The unfortunate story for all involved in which a bisexual Bronx teen stabbed his alleged bullies has gotten worse. The teen has been found guilty of manslaughter.
In September of 2017, we shared with you the story of Abel Cedeno. Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation student Cedeno was allegedly being bullied, because of his sexuality and his race, by classmates Matthew McCree and Arane Leboy so frequently that he decided to bring in knives for protection.
Unfortunately, he then used them in an act to defend himself after McCree punched him in class. Cedeno ended up seriously wounding Leboy and killing McCree.
“The class was very rowdy and loudness and everything,” said Cedeno in an interview with Eyewitness News (which you can watch below). “I just snapped.”
“I was alone and no one was going to help me,” he added. “So I took out the knife.”
The following court case then proceeded for nearly two years, with Cedeno testifying on his own behalf at one point and saying other students were throwing things at him during the altercation, and now the judge has made his decision. Cedeno has been convicted of first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
“In a matter of seconds, the defendant took out his knife and stabbed two students in front of a crowded classroom, killing 15-year-old Matthew McCree and critically wounding Ariane Laboy, then 16,” said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. “The incident has forever traumatized the young students and school faculty who watched in horror the violence that unfolded that morning. It is truly a tragedy; a young life was taken, and so many other lives — including the defendant’s — are irreparably damaged.”
Cedeno faces up to 5 to 25 years in prison for each of the manslaughter and assault charges. But for now, the 19-year-old has been remanded and will be sentenced on September 10.
