School officials knew the 14-year-old boy charged with fatally stabbing another student outside a Baltimore middle school on Friday was the victim of bullying, but they could not resolve the conflict, the suspect’s attorney said.
Timothy Oxendine’s mother had called officials at William H. Lemmel Middle School in Northwest Baltimore to alert them that her son was being bullied, and the school attempted to mediate the feud between him and 15-year-old Markel Williams, attorney Patrick Todd Williams said Monday.
Oxendine turned himself in to police Friday evening after allegedly stabbing Williams to death before 1 p.m. in the rear parking lot of the school.
“He tried to follow normal procedures at the school,” Oxendine’s attorney said. “This is a case of extreme bullying. He felt extremely threatened. He feared for his life.”
The attorney tried Monday morning to have the teen released from jail, but Judge Devi Russell ordered him held without bail. Oxendine, who has no juvenile record, has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder.
Williams had an extensive juvenile record and had been on an informal watch list kept by officers in the Northwest District for youth who repeatedly get into trouble, police said.
“He was a person who patrol officers were aware of, someone they came across and someone they made other patrol officers aware of,” said Officer Troy Harris, a city police spokesman. “He was someone we had come across before. Part of being a patrol officer is sharing information on people that are creating problems consistently in the community.”
City schools chief Andres Alonso called the stabbing “very tragic.” He was at Lemmel Monday to speak with teachers, and he held a closed meeting with parents at night. Grief counselors will be at the school throughout the week.
Oxendine feared so much for his safety that he had not attended the school in the 2800 block of North Dukeland Street in about three weeks, his attorney said.
A spokeswoman for the school system declined to comment on the bullying.
Charging documents show that the two students had an “ongoing dispute” and that Oxendine was searching for Williams before the victim was found with multiple stab wounds in his upper torso.
The slaying is the first involving a student on city school grounds in nearly eight years. In January 2001, Juan Matthews, a 17-year-old ninth-grader at Lake Clifton Eastern High School, was shot three times outside the school and killed.
Oxendine’s next court appearance, a preliminary hearing, is scheduled for Dec. 5.
Examiner Staff Writers Stephen Janis and Luke Broadwater contributed to this report.
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