Wade Hampton Student Stabbed Near Campus

Greenville County Sheriff's deputies are on the scene of an assault.

Just after 4 p.m., deputies said they received a call that a student had been stabbed in the abdomen by an unknown suspect at the former Bijou movie theater location.

According to Greenville County Schools, the student returned to the campus after being stabbed.

Deputy Matthew Armstrong said several students from the school had walked down to the abandoned parking lot and became involved in a verbal argument with a man already in the location.

"At one point we are told one of the students struck the individual on the moped," Armstrong said. "The suspect on the moped goes down and then comes back up and produces a knife, but he doesn't go after the person who had assaulted him, he goes after the nearest one and stabs that individual in abdomen."

Deputies said they don't know what motivated the initial assault.

Armstrong said the victim was transported to the hospital by EMS and is expected to recover from his injuries.

The suspect is described as a white male wearing a black hat, black shirt, blue jeans with shaggy brown hair. Deputies said the man left the scene on a dark blue moped.

The school district said the suspect is not a student at the school. Deputies are continuing to investigate.

Leah Mulfinger has lived near Wade Hampton High School for about a year. She said that she and her children often walk and bike in the area near the school.

"Around 4 p.m. today she was out walking down Pine Knoll near our house when the fire trucks came out, as they do periodically, we didn't think anything about it until they pulled into the parking lot at the school," Mulfinger said.

Mulfinger said that she decided to drive around the neighborhood after hearing a helicopter from a local news station flying above her home. She said she and her husband stopped near an ice cream shop and asked two boys what was going on and that was when she learned that a student had been stabbed.

"I'm hoping this is an isolated incident," Mulfinger said. "There are a lot of kids who hang out over here, but actually the police officers do a good job of coming in here, sitting there and letting the kids know 'we're watching.' They've not really let them congregate in this area."

Anyone with information on the identity of the suspect can call Crime Stoppers at 23-CRIME.