Teen Attacked, Stabbed Outside High School

An Allentown student is recovering after police say he was attacked and stabbed by four people outside his high school on Friday.

Investigators say a 16-year-old boy was walking on the 500 block of Irving Street, two blocks away from Dieruff High School shortly before 3 p.m. after class was dismissed. As he was walking, police say a group of four suddenly approached him and attacked him, stabbing him several times in his upper body and back before fleeing the scene.

The victim was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital with moderate injuries and was later released. While police have not yet released an official motive in the attack, they do believe the teen was targeted.

"We always like to watch that area especially when kids walk out of school," said Aziz Wehbey, who owns a business close to where the attack took place. "After this hopefully the police will have somebody in the area between 2 and 3 when the kids leave school."

Surveillance video from Wehbey's business shows a black Mitsubishi Eclipse pull up close to where the teen was attacked. The video then shows four men get out of the car and walk toward Irving Street. Two minutes later, the men reappear on video, get in the car and then drive off.

On Saturday, shortly after midnight, police arrested a suspect in the stabbing. Emil Encarnacion, 17, was taken into custody and is being charged as an adult with aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. Police continue to search for the three other suspects.

"Being that I went to Dieruff High School, it's kind of scary," said Sabrina Khan, who lives close to where the teen was stabbed. "There's always traffic here. So for somebody to come up and attack somebody in broad daylight and not worry about it, that's scary."