It’s been revealed that a Bronx teenager accused of stabbing a bullying classmate to death was ceaselessly tormented by homophobic, antigay slurs until he reached a breaking point.
Family and friends reveal 18-year-old Abel Cedeno was repeatedly abused by another student.
The incidents were reported to staffers at his Bronx high school, but no one came to his aid.
Related: Ex-Bully Comes Out As Gay, Apologizes For Homophobic Torment
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“The kids were calling him a ‘faggot,’ calling him a ‘spic,’” said Savannah Hornbeck, 34, during Cedeno’s Thursday arraignment.
“After it had been reported numerous times and there was no reaction from the school, Abel felt [there was] no other way out.”
Cedeno has been placed under suicide watch and is being held without bail in the wake of the murder of 15-year-old Matthew McGree.
Another student was also stabbed by Cedeno as frightened peers in his history class watched.
According to Assistant District Attorney Nancy Borko, “The defendant admits to purchasing a [switchblade] knife two weeks before online and stabbing two people.”
Members of his family sat in the third row during the hearing at the Bronx Criminal Court hearing, openly weeping.
They left the courtroom without addressing the media. Many of them stood, trying to get Cedeno’s attention as he was led into the courtroom.
Questioned by Judge Patsy Gouldbourne about an order of protection given to the victim who survived, Cedeno replied, “Yes, I understand, your honor.”
The Legal Aid Society issued a statement after Deborah Rush represented Cedeno:
“We are currently meeting with our client and his family and reviewing the facts and circumstances of this case, including the long history of bullying and intimidation Abel has endured.”
According to New York Daily News, there hasn’t been another fatal stabbing inside a New York City school since February 1993.
Family friend Iris Couvertier spoke to Abel after his arrest.
“Those two kids in the class, they hit him,” she tells NY Daily News. “He said that they hit him in the face. He said it’s because he’s gay or bisexual.”
Hornbeck claims it wasn’t unusual for Cedeno to come home in tears after ongoing bullying incidents.
On the other hand, NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce claims this was the first real dispute between Cedeno, McCree, and Ariane Laboy, the 16-year-old who survived.
Cedeno “said he had problems before at the start of school, but not with these two individuals,” said Boyce. “He said he was being harassed, but that is all he said.”
Officials at the City Education Department officials refused to say whether Cedeno told anyone on the faculty about the alleged bullying incidents, citing “student privacy laws,” according to NY Daily News.
Asked if he was being bullied, Cedeno mouthed “yes” as police escorted him out of the precinct on Wednesday, dressed in pink T-shirt and grey hoodie.
The accused reportedly snapped after McCree and Laboy broke pencils and threw the broken pieces at him.
Related: Gay Man Shuts Down Younger Sister’s Homophobic Bully With One Fantastic Facebook Post
He reportedly came after McCree with a stainless steel switchblade, stabbing the victim in the chest and torso.
Police say Medeno “never went into specifics” as to why he was targeted by McCree, Laboy, and other classmates.
Xzamilloh
And once again, we have a prime example of adults failing to protect a bullied teenager and then seeing the results of said complacency. And now a boy is dead, another maimed, and one going to prison for a long time, unless his lawyer can use some kind of insanity or heat of passion defense.
ChrisK
I’d say they have a good case. Something like the battered wife syndrome.
At any rate, kids can be very cruel. They’re like little animals and the adults needed to step in.
Doug
It’s unfortunate that it went this far, but I’m glad to see someone who’s been bullied for being gay finally act outwardly rather than take it out on themselves by suicide.
Goddess24
Doug, you took the words right out of my mouth. I don’t want more violence, but I’d much rather read about GLBT kids fighting back, rather than taking their own lives. Unfortunately violence seems the only way that Americans learn. Many GLBT kids kicked butt in my high school and no one ever messed with any of us again. This needs to happen more, only because it will show future bullies that we are not a people to be bullied and they won’t attempt it.
Bob LaBlah
@Xzamilloh…………..this article has a picture of both the victim and the aggressor. Now, between you and I, after taking a GOOD look at both the aggressor and the VICTIM, do you kinda sorta wonder if it could have been a case of repressed puppy love on the part of at least one of them? I say again, take a GOOD long look into those eyes of the victim, especially the pic of him with that cap on his head. Little boys have been known to pull the pig tails of little…………any, your thoughts please. This is a tragic situation indeed and I have a gut feeling I am right in my summation. Now I’m starting to wonder what does the third kid in this scenario look like.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/mom-recalls-horror-dying-son-bx-school-stabbing-article-1.3530426
Bob LaBlah
NYC has a high school named Harvey Milk right by Union Square (or at least thats where it was when I lived there) set up for kids who are gay (and every other damn thing they want to call/refer to themselves as if they have a problem with identifying as gay like we had to do back in MY day). Its too bad the poor kid didn’t ask to be transferred to that school. This is horrible because no matter what happens to him he is never going to be able to forget what he did and he will be reminded of what he did later on when he gets out and tries to get his life back together. All circumstances point to premeditated based on what I read. Mail order knife plus he managed to get it past the metal detector that is present in all NYC schools. It was thought out obviously with no small detail spared.
I feel so sorry for the kid. I felt like going postal TWICE in high school even though all of the kids knew damn well I would fight back physically. A big fat girl I had been friends with since third grade deserted me in September of the ninth grade (fourteen years old) and was one of my lead taunters for the next three years. I swear sometimes I still feel like strangling that overstuffed pollywog every time I drive past where she used to live forty-five years ago. Thats just how deep my feelings still are. You never forget people who went out of their way to make your life miserable and all you could do was stand there and take it.
Luna1979
Bob, I don’t know if this will make it any better, but I’ve found karma or god or destiny, whatever takes care of these people. I had the same issues for years, elementary through high school because the bitch lived right across the street from me. I found out how she’s doing: miserably. About to lose her house, huge credit card debt, and her younger sister buying diapers for her spawn because she can’t even afford that! Knowing my life turned out so much better is all the revenge I need. Your fatty might even be dead by now. You never know.
Bob LaBlah
I appreciate the soothing words but as for her and her ol’ Tammy Wynette-wannabe ass mother (I mean hair-do and all) my feelings will never change. Her mother died in 1979 and is buried in the local cemetery. When I moved back home from NYC in 2013 I had several fights with myself trying to keep from going to her grave after a few beers until one day I lost the “fight” (if you get my drift). What a nice long “relief” I went thru the day I lost that fight and went out to that cemetery. I never look back in regret at that day either. That’s just how deep my emotions still run. I still feel robbed of my teen years and have no doubt this poor kid will experience the same feelings once he is older. His experiences are about to become a nightmare and his bitterness to society hasn’t even begun.
leobaga
Good for him. I punched my bully one on the head so hard he never bullied me again.
oddchild1
Can we stop calling it bullying and call it what it is. It’s harassment, assault, libel, slander, and stalking; time to start taking the parents of these little sociopaths to court and the schools too. Once people are hit where it hurts maybe people will start doing something about these little sociopaths. “It Gets Better” is bs. We need to teach kids how to legally defend themselves.
Luna1979
Yes!! Parents need to be held accountable for their vicious vermin because honestly, who raised these dickheads?! My five year old niece was punched in the face her first day of kindergarten. The teacher said the little bastard had “family issues” and did nothing. My father taught her how to hit back the same day.
Daniel-Reader
Sad when adults simply brush off bullying and assaults against young people by other people and then wring their hands in hypocritical angst when something like this happens. Being in school doesn’t provide a free pass for criminal assault and harassment.
sfcarlos65
Exactly! I especially hate it when adults justify bullying as a cultural norm.
surreal33
More power to him and where can we donate to his legal defense?
Billy Budd
Yes. I would donate to his legal defense. I feel for the kid.
DarkZephyr
I’m not going to cheer the killer, but I definitely do feel for him. This is the first time I’ve heard of the bullied student snapping in this way. Normally we hear about the bullied students killing themselves. I just hope that this doesn’t lead to homophobes going nuts on LGBT people even worse than usual.
Josh447
I was being harassed for being suspected of being gay in the 6th grade at a catholic school while I was repairing a problem with the class record player and this mouthy chick and her gaggle of morons were just relentless. She just went on and on. Finally I turned and glared at her and hauled off and back handed her across the face big time/really hard.
I know people were talking about me possibly being gay, but that was the last time I ever heard about it in front of me. I didn’t shrink, I exploded and people got the message.
I wish this guy had done something sooner that was legal to get his point across but then every situation is different. I applaud him for what he did. It is this kind of act that will get people to wake up. Unfortunate but true.
Bob LaBlah
@Josh447………….”Unfortunate but true.”
That last sentence of you comment is an understatement. That act (killing his tormentor) has now put that kid in the gladiators arena (prison) where he is going to get a CRUEL lesson on how the thrown away gay men and women survive both inside and outside of prison. Rest assured, ALL of them behind bars will soon learn who he is and what he did and will watch their backs around him. He planned this and it went almost with military precision. And there lies another problem. What if he smarts off inside prison with the “wrong” queen and the queen realizes this kid has already killed once before? Do they get him first or wait till he gets them? The kid he killed: what if he has relatives waiting for him (Cedeno) to show up and drop his guard or turn his back? He has taken a life and regrettably the possibility of him not caring about doing it again…………….this is tragic and I hope all who are reading this start to realize just what has happened to this poor kids life from this point on. You killed when you were eighteen years old but expect an employer to believe you were rehabilitated after twenty years of living with transvestites and such who know nothing else but stealing, prostituting, credit card fraud, hooking up with a “fool” to support you until its time to move on to the next one….etc? He is going to see many of those people released and reenter prison before he gets out. Why would he not learn to accept…………..as I said, I really do feel sorry for this kid. It would have been a helluva lot easier on all to have simply sent him to the Harvey Milk high school where he could have been around kids his own age who were gay and interested in an education that contributed to society. Now…….well hey, you go figure.
Josh447
PS…. And I hope the school gets the hell sued out of them for complicit bullying escalating to murder.
HaguePeter
I hope they bear the grunt of the sentence.
Walker
Just so I’m clear, if someone is a victim of a violent act we shouldn’t blame the villain, right? Except when he’s a bully?
Some of the comments here are depraved.
Walker
Victim. Stupid autocorrect.
ChrisK
“The lead up to the stabbing was the student being pelted from behind all morning with bits of pencils and paper. He stood up and said something to one of the boys who slugged him and then he took the knife to him”.
This was a long history of psychological and physical abuse. The kid feared for his life. He did what he had to do since no one would step in.
ChrisK
I not only blame the villains but the school for letting this go on.
captainburrito
The victims deserve some blame, not the stabbing and killing but they deserved to receive back what they dished out. I’m guessing they might not have been the ones responsible for all his bullying but he was simply at his breaking point and they bore the brunt of it.
The bully victims were not innocent, although they didn’t deserve this. So it would be reasonable to assign some blame to them.
marcinmass
When my kids were in school there was a handbook and a zero tolerance policy on bullying. I assumed this was in place in all schools. Apparently not. Even if they had such a policy, they obviously did not make victims feel comfortable in reporting. The parents also should have reported every incident of him crying. This could have had a better outcome. I can see how this poor kid snapped. No one was protecting him. Such a shame.
throwslikeagirl
This is tragic for everyone. Everyone. All people, everywhere. We can be an unbelievably cruel species. Please, if anyone knows a way to contribute to this kid’s defense, post the info. That may mean you, Queerty.
Me2
There are no winners here. A CHILD is dead, another is critical condition, and the other is facing some serious prison time. Being bullied doesn’t give you the right to take a life; yours or anyone else’s. I know everyone loves rooting for the underdog and we get immense satisfaction from stories where the bullied fight back. But this is real life! We as adults have a greater responsibility to the LGBT youth to show them better ways to respond to bullying. Eventually this story will fade from the headlines and all of the people cheering and supporting Cedeno will have moved on to the next sensational story and he will pretty much be totally on his own, in prison, life in ruins. And all because his emotions got the best of him.
dean089
I suppose I should be horrified but I really want to shout “YES!” and send a donation to his legal defense fund.
jayjay333
Good for him!
He BGB
I watched Let the Right One In night on Hulu, about a bullied 12 year old boy who is told by his vampiric girlfriend neighbor to “Hit back. And hit hard.” So he does. Of course little girl rips all of the bullies into pieces before leaving town her advice was good.
He BGB
Last night on Hulu. Sorry.
o.codone
A crime of passion, a state of mind that was desperate. THIS KID GOES FREE. I’ll donate to his legal defense.
jhon_siders
I had a older boy bully and sexual assault me in JR high school he was moved to a alternative school I wrestled 9th grade thru my senior year that year at a meet here was that guy on another schools squad I got my coach and made sure I got to challenge him He about shit a brick when he saw me I was no longer the LIL redheaded kid he hurt in 7th grade long story short I slammed him so hard he had to be carried off the mat with a neck and spine injury ! It looked like the final scene in Vision Quest . Payback !!
nitejonboy
I wish he could go scott free…those little bastards had it coming…poor guy was prolly being bullied daily and he snapped…well good for him!! He’s a hero to me, they won’t do this to anyone else coming up behind him!! I was relentlessly bullied in school in the 90’s in middle and high school…and if I had had the courage and the weapons to kill some of my bullies I would have and I wouldn’t have felt bad at all. When I see some of them today I tell them they’re lucky to be alive today and wink,lol.