KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mother of Manuel "Manny" Guzman, a 14-year-old who was stabbed to death at Northeast Middle School in April 2022, sued Kansas City Public Schools for wrongful death on Monday.
The suit alleges KCPS and Northeast Middle School are involved in the incident because the entities — pertaining to Missouri law — were responsible for Manny's education and safety and that KCPS was aware a student was threatening to stab Manny at the middle school.
"We are aware of the lawsuit recently filed involving our school district. However, at this time, we are unable to provide detailed comments or discuss specifics due to the ongoing nature of the litigation," KCPS said in a statement issued to KSHB 41 Wednesday morning.
Manny was stabbed six times by a classmate, who was also 14 years-old at the time, in a first-floor bathroom near where security guards are stationed within the school, according to Vicenta Guzman, Manny's mother. She had not even pulled out of the school's parking lot after dropping off her only child before she received a call that Manny had been stabbed.
He was transported with life-threatening injuries to Children's Mercy where he died later that same day, April 12.
In an previous interview with KSHB 41, Vicenta Guzman questioned how the knife made it through the school's metal detectors and how security guards were unaware of the stabbing occurring in the bathroom.
The suit alleges KCPS is aware "properly functioning and operating metal detectors" were a necessity for the school and the fact that they were not operating in full capacity was ignored by KCPS's employees for years despite "various complaints."
The suspect, whose name has not been released because he is a minor and was not charged as adult, was initially charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, a Class B felony, in Jackson County Family Court on April 11, 2023, one day before the anniversary of Manny's death. The armed criminal action and unlawful use of weapon charges were dropped.
The defendant, who was 15 years-old at the time of his plea deal, had a disposition hearing, which is similar to a sentencing, on May 17, 2023. At the time, he was in custody at the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center.
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