15-year-old will be charged as adult after deadly stabbing at Southeast Raleigh High School

Tyquan General, 15, the teenager accused in a deadly stabbing at Southeast Raleigh High School in November, will be charged as an adult.

General, a Southeast Raleigh student, was 14 on Nov. 27 when a stabbing took the life of Delvin Ferrell, 15, a freshman at the school. Another student was also injured and hospitalized.

Juvenile petitions were filed against General on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5 for first-degree murder and assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. The juvenile court judge transferred the case to Superior Court, where General will be tried as an adult.

General appealed the juvenile court judge’s decision to try him as an adult, but a Superior Court judge denied that appeal on May 23. General will need to request an arraignment date or the court will enter a “not guilty” plea on his behalf. 

In November, District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told WRAL News, since General was accused of murder, it was her intention to transfer this case to Superior Court to try him as an adult.

Video taken by students in November shows a boy wildly swinging a knife, striking two students and then walking away from the fight. His parents tell WRAL he had been bullied and was trying to protect himself.

The video shows multiple perspectives of the fight, which seems to have started outside the gymnasium and then spilled inside, with students following the fight as it unfolded.

WRAL News spoke with Cherelle McLaughlin, the mother of the student seen in those videos swinging a knife. She told WRAL News her son was acting in self-defense and claimed he was concerned for his safety at the school.

McLaughlin said she informed the school about the potential danger to her son, warning them that he could get attacked.

“I informed the school earlier that something may happen. I informed them that morning,” she said. “I told them something may happen, boys may threaten to jump him. They didn’t get to him fast enough.”

Police and school officials have not explained exactly who or what started the fight.

Data shows Southeast Raleigh High School has a far higher rate of criminal acts and arrests than the rest of Wake County or the state of North Carolina. During the 2022-2023 school year, Southeast Raleigh High School has 30.84 criminal acts per 1,000 students, compared with only 9.45 from in Wake County Public Schools and 8.77 in North Carolina.

Wake County doesn’t use metal detectors, some of which could detect some knives. Traditional metal detectors could cost millions of dollars and prompt long lines to get into school. Some newer weapons detection systems often don’t catch knives