Girl, 16, charged in gasoline attack on 2 school guards

A 16-year-old Pennsylvania girl accused of trying to light a high school security guard on fire will be charged as an adult, police said. She is facing charges of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and possession of a weapon on school property. When Murray tried to escort her once again, she threw the carton.

The school – one of the poorest in the Pittsburgh suburbs – has an after-school food program and the suspect returned at the end of the day to eat before milling about when other students began fighting that afternoon, Murray told police. She smuggled in the lighter along with a two liter plastic bottle of gasoline to school on Monday and then attacked the guards.

This past Friday, the security guard, Brandon Murray, had led Knight-Brantley from the school grounds because she violated a school rule of using her cell phone.

Mr Murray said he was concerned because if she had managed to set him alight, he would have been unable to “drop and roll” as he was standing in a pool of petrol.

This, she says, she did because she claims that Murray had knocked her food tray out of her hands and onto the ground, proceeded to put her in a headlock and said he was going to bite her. Her grandmother, her legal guardian, was never informed of the incident by school authorities.

The girl’s grandmother told police that neither her granddaughter nor the school told her about the Friday confrontation. He said that she pulled out a grill lighter before being subdued by another guard.

The company that provides the guards didn’t immediately return a call for comment, but a school spokesman says the guard – who was working Tuesday – likely won’t return Wednesday while officials continue to assess the situation.

Although the student did not attempt to light the fuel, the school was later evacuated due to the smell of gas permeating throughout the building.

Asked by police whether she “intended on igniting” Murray, the girl said, “yes”.