A 15-year-old boy charged as a juvenile in the killing last year of a fellow student at a Kansas City, Mo., middle school has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
The Kansas City Star reports that the guilty plea comes on the eve of the one-year-anniversary of the fatal stabbing in a bathroom at Northeast Middle School.
On April 12, 2022, Kansas City police officers found the victim, Manuel Guzman, 14, in the bathroom with wounds that proved to be fatal.
The identity of the assailant, 15, has not been disclosed because of his age. The Office of the Juvenile Officer, which acts as the prosecutor in juvenile criminal cases, initially charged the 15-year-old with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful weapon use. Under a plea agreement, the boyhas agreed to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Family of the slain boy told said the pair had fought weeks before the fatal stabbing. The brawl was broadcast over social media and showed two boys, dressed in black, punching one another.
The 15-year-old is scheduled to appear in court next month for a dispositional hearing. He is being held in the Juvenile Detention Center.
