Five Students Wounded in Slashing at Queens High School

Five students were wounded and later arrested on Wednesday after a slashing at a Queens high school, the police said.

The slashing occurred during a fight that broke out around 12:43 p.m. at the school, New Dawn Charter High School II in Jamaica, according to law enforcement authorities. Five students were involved, as well as a security guard who tried to break it up. The police responded to the scene after a 911 call about an assault in progress.

All five students and the guard were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries; the five students were then taken into custody.

The slashing comes amid a recent trend of increasing behavioral issues and violence in New York City schools. In two consecutive days in December, a 12-year-old girl was slashed in the leg at a Bronx middle school and a 15-year-old boy was stabbed at a Brooklyn high school. Experts say that the rising discipline problems may be related to the lingering emotional stress of the coronavirus pandemic.

Efforts to reach school administrators on Wednesday were not immediately successful.

This is a developing story and will be updated.