16-year-old victim ID’d by family after fatal stabbing at Santa Rosa high school

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) — Santa Rosa police say a 16-year-old is dead and another student is expected to survive following a stabbing at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa on Wednesday morning.

Family and friends gathered Wednesday evening, setting up a memorial for their nephew and grandson – who they identified as Jayden Pienta.

The Montgomery High School community is dealing with the loss of a young man but is also frustrated that this can happen at a school.

No one would talk on camera — but by the size of the crowd, you could see the impact this had.

This is what we know so far:

According to Police Chief John Cregan, two juniors entered a classroom and engaged in a physical altercation with a freshman student.

A teacher reportedly jumped into action to break up the fight when one of the students inside the classroom produced a knife and stabbed the other two students. He stabbed Jayden three times in the upper body, and second student in the hand.

Police were notified at 11:11 a.m. of a fight at the high school on Hahman Drive and arrived four minutes later.

Cregan says both students were alert and conscious when police and medical response arrived and were taken to a local hospital, where Jayden died from his wounds.

With the help of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, police searched the area after the suspect fled the scene. Witnesses reportedly saw him hiding in the creek.

A 15-year-old boy, a freshman at the high school, was later found hiding in a creek bed and taken into custody.

Cregan says the weapon, a 4-to-5-inch blade with a black handle, has not been located.

This is an ongoing investigation and witnesses are encouraged to come forward and contact the Santa Rosa Police Department.

The school announced the classes will be canceled on Thursday and Friday.

The grandmother and aunts say the family told the school these students were having problems and that nothing was done. They are demanding more accountability.

During a press conference held by the police chief and school superintendent, a hand full of students and parents complained that not enough is being done to handle the escalating problems at the school. The family told ABC7 News that other students notified Jayden’s family about what happened — not police or Montgomery staff.

The mayor of Santa Rosa and the superintendent were on campus a short while ago. They left before taking questions from the students and parents.

We are told the school got rid of its resource officers in 2020. Many of the students and parents claim that having an officer on campus might have helped to keep the initial fight from escalating into the attack in the classroom.

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

Bay City News contributed to this report.