Pennsylvania

Vigil Held for Philly Teen Stabbed to Death

Friends and family gathered Monday night to remember a West Philadelphia High School student who was stabbed to death by another student.

A vigil was held for 14-year-old Nafis O'Neal in West Philadelphia. The event included a tribute from a bike club that O'Neal was a member of. Loved ones also launched balloons in the sky in O'Neal's honor.

"They took my baby away from me," said O'Neal's aunt Jennifer Patterson during the vigil. "Just left him for dead." 

O'Neal was riding his bike with his brother and a friend when a fellow West Philly High student ran up and spotted them outside the school on 46th and Market streets Friday afternoon, police said.

"He sees the three, he runs right toward them — from what witnesses are telling — he's got a knife in his hand and jabs one time the victim in the chest," said Lt. John Walker.

O'Neal was rushed to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in critical condition. He was pronounced dead around 9 p.m. Friday.

A fight inside the school prompted the stabbing, officials told NBC10.

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A 16-year-old West Philly High student was arrested and charged in connection to O'Neal's death.

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