Two students are in custody after a knife fight outside a Westchester Community College student center left three classmates bloodied and hospitalized on Wednesday.
County police responded to the Valhalla campus around 12:40 p.m. Following a 911 call about the melee near the David Swoope Student Center. Authorities confirmed that three students were injured and two others were taken into custody, though additional details have not been released and college officials have not commented on the incident.
The violence unfolded in broad daylight as students moved between classes. A female student who witnessed the attack said she had been walking back to class when the fight erupted. “The two boys dropped to the floor, and there was just blood everywhere,” she said. She rushed to aid the most severely wounded victim. “He was just bleeding out and somebody passed me a sweater and I’m just trying to stop the blood. And the two that did it are just like running around. It’s insane,” she continued.
According to the same student, one victim was stabbed in the back and another in the head. She told reporters that tension had been building between the parties. “I think they were arguing just over the course of two days and it built up into a fight,” she said.
Video footage from the scene captured students scuffling on the ground as others pleaded for the violence to end. One woman could be heard shouting, “They had a knife.” The recording also showed one wounded student stumbling away before collapsing, covered in blood, as bystanders repeatedly yelled, “Stop!”
Among those present during the chaotic scene was someone dressed as “Chester the Viking,” the community college’s mascot, adding a surreal element to the disturbing footage.
Another student struggled to process the proximity of the violence. “It was just like random,” the student said. “I don’t know why. You never think it happens to you or near you until it does.”
The 80-year-old institution, part of the State University of New York system, enrolls approximately 9,700 students at its suburban Valhalla campus.