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Student suffers cut by samurai sword in sword fight

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 02:37:46 +0000

A lawsuit was filed after a teacher brought in swords and held sword fights, and a student was hospitalized in New Mexico. (Image from lawsuit)

The guardians of a high school student in New Mexico who was hacked in the wrist by a samurai sword during “school-sponsored sword fighting,” requiring a trip to the emergency room, have filed a lawsuit in the case, according to a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 23, said the “school-sponsored sword fighting” happened in a chemistry class at Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque on May 2, 2022. A sophomore was taken to the ER after one of the fights and has been suffering from permanent physical and psychological injuries from the trauma, the lawsuit says.

“It was total shock,” family attorney Jessica Hernandez told FOX New Mexico affiliate KRQE. “Not only did this teacher and APS (Albuquerque Public Schools) not protect this child, but actively put her in harm’s way, actively created this danger, and put deadly weapons right into these student’s hands and exactly what could reasonably be anticipated is what happened.”

The complaint obtained by Law&Crime said the teacher brought in a “surprise” that day — two swords, a katana-style sword with a long, curved blade and a rapier-style weapon that the teacher called “props.” She instructed the students to rearrange their desks, creating a space in the middle of the classroom and encouraged her students to fight one another for two minutes each while other students shot video on their phones.

In the video, a student can be seen wielding the heavy katana sword. He appears to wield it defensively by parrying the other student’s attacks, moving backward, and retreating away while holding a lighter, longer rapier-style blade. He makes stabbing motions toward the other student as teacher Loviata Mitchell looks on.

The next match drew blood.

A lawsuit was filed after a teacher brought swords, including a samurai-style sword, and held sword fights in a classroom in New Mexico. (Image from lawsuit)

A student identified in court documents as N.S. was struck across the right forearm, wrist, and hand by a student holding a katana-style sword. The injury caused intense physical pain and heavy bleeding, court documents said.

Immediately after N.S. was cut, Mitchell said, “I’m in trouble!” The lawsuit said she ordered her students to delete their videos, refrain from posting anything about the fights online, and not tell anyone.

As N.S. bled, Mitchell tried to call the health office, “but she could not figure out how to do so” and did not immediately call 911, the lawsuit alleges.

Mitchell allowed N.S. to call her grandfather for help — about 20 minutes after N.S. was cut.

“As N.S. began to feel nauseous and weak from blood loss, another student ran to the VVHS health office for medical assistance,” court documents said.

Shortly after that, a school health assistant arrived in Mitchell’s classroom, called 911, and began providing first aid — about 30 minutes after N.S. had been cut. The student was taken to an emergency room where she was treated for “a gaping wound on her right wrist” an hour after being cut by a “real sword consistent with [a] ‘samurai sword’ style item,” Albuquerque Fire Department EMS staff dispatched to the scene noted, court documents said.

The assistant principal’s official school accident report said the teacher brought a “prop” to school for a lesson on “metal and melding (science)” and that the student accidentally cut the other student with it.”

Albuquerque Public Schools did not comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy against commenting on pending litigation, KQRE reported, adding Mitchell was hired as a special-education teacher in 2021 and was terminated in 2022.

The lawsuit seeks an undisclosed amount for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost future earnings, loss of mobility, and psychological and emotional distress.

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Samurai sword-wielding man who beheaded woman sentenced

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 07:59:34 +0000

Jose Rafael “Rafa” Solano Landaeta, left, admittedly beheaded Karina Castro, right, with a samurai sword in September 2022. He claims the killing was in self-defense. Images via screengrab/KGO-TV.

A California man learned his fate this week for the samurai sword beheading of the mother of his child in the middle of a street.

Jose Rafael “Rafa” Solano Landaeta, 34, was sentenced on Tuesday to 26 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the Sept. 8, 2022, killing of Karina Castro, 27.

Castro’s grandmother called Landaeta a “monster,” “the worst kind of evil,” the Bay Area’s KRON reported.

The victim’s father, Martin Castro Jr., said the punishment wasn’t enough, NBC Bay Area affiliate KNTV reported.

“That’s exactly how I felt,” he said. “It’s not enough. California is insane as far as that goes. I don’t understand. If he used a gun, he could get life without parole. He butchered her … and they’re giving him a light sentence because he didn’t use a gun.”

Judge Lisa Novak upbraided the defendant, the outlet reported.

“This is by far the most difficult trial I’ve ever presided over because of the horror of the crime you committed in butchering Karina Castro,” Novak said. “I have no discretion, so it is a sentence based on the verdict of the jury. What the community needs to understand is that this incredible act of violence is not related to untreated mental illness.”

His defense attorney said the killing was self-defense and blamed mental health issues, saying he had not been taking medication for chronic paranoid schizophrenia, KNTV reported.

He was found guilty in November of first-degree murder, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

As Law&Crime reported, the shocking daytime slaughter occurred on the corner of Laurel Street and Magnolia Avenue in the suburb of San Carlos, about 25 miles south of San Francisco.

Solano has never denied what he did.

In an interview from the jailhouse, he told San Francisco-based ABC affiliate KGO-TV reporter Dan Noyes he feared for his life because Castro grabbed a weapon of her own on the day in question.

“He says she emerged from the driver’s side of [her] Volkswagen with the knife in hand and kind of marched toward him with this knife,” he recalled in a debriefing with colleagues after he left the San Mateo County Jail. “And he claimed that he swung that sword in self-defense.”

Evidence during the trial showed the killer and the mother of two had been increasingly angry with one another in the days leading up to the attack, according to local CW affiliate KRON. A defense attorney even characterized their relationship as “toxic.” Castro accused her ex-boyfriend of being a pedophile and a rapist in a series of private social media messages. In response, Solano sent a series of ninja emojis — the animated men even had swords on their backs.

“The head was underneath the car and she was laying in the back of the car — just severed,” neighbor Chapel Thorborne told KGO-TV. “And they covered her up.”

Witnesses saw the two in a verbal altercation on the street before the violence occurred. Castro’s two children were present — one of whom is also Solano’s daughter — but were later moved upstairs. At some point, the killer went back to his car, retrieved the samurai sword and struck. The man was seen repeatedly “slashing” at the mother of his child several times until her head had almost completely come off, according to Palo Alto Online.

“This crime was vicious,” prosecutor Josh Stauffer said during trial. “This crime was cruel. There is no credible evidence that the defendant suffered from any mental health condition on the day of the crime.”

The prosecution argued that Solano planned the sword attack. He told his boss he was sick, left early, retrieved the sword from his home an hour away, revealed his intention to a friend, and then drove to confront Castro.

Solano first entered not guilty by reason of insanity plea but was deemed competent to stand trial. Later, he changed his plea to not guilty while claiming the killing was in self-defense.

Defense attorney Robert Cummings also told jurors that his client’s schizophrenia diagnosis made him genuinely fear for his life due to the messages he received from Castro, according to USA Today. The defense also raised the idea that the victim tried to stab Solano first — but no evidence was ever presented to support that version of events.

Multiple medical professionals testified that there was no link between Solano’s mental health issues and the brutal killing.

The woman tried to run during the attack — but Solano was determined. The killer struck her at least seven times.

One witness who testified reportedly said he saw Solano “swing at Castro with such a blow, her arm was almost severed from her body.”

Law&Crime’s Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.

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