Teen Fatally Stabbed, Police Say, as Students Watched: 'They Videoed His Death Instead of Helping Him'

A New York high school student was stabbed to death while a crowd of fellow classmates filmed it with their cellphones, but did nothing to help, police said.

Sixteen-year-old Khaseen Morris had been challenged to a fight Monday by the ex-boyfriend of a girl he had innocently walked home from a party, authorities said.

Morris said he wasn't dating the girl but merely making sure she teen got home safely, his family said. Nonetheless, he went Monday to address the challenge at a strip mall near campus where students routinely gathered, according to Nassau County police. 

There, he was surrounded by about 50 students, who were filming the confrontation with their cellphones, police said. A group of six or seven teens began beating Morris and his friends, then Morris dropped to the ground, bleeding from a stab wound to the chest, authorities said. The attackers ran, and Morris later died at a hospital, police said.

Videos of the bloody melee began showing up on social media.

"Kids stood there and didn't help Khaseen," said Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick at a Monday press conference. "They would rather video this event. They videoed his death instead of helping him."

He has spoken to some of the teens who filmed the attack, he said, and chastised them for not helping Morris. The videos have aided investigators in identifying some of the attackers, he said, but that doesn't negate the terribleness of posting the footage on social platforms including Snapchat.

"I don't know what to make of it, my generation versus this generation," Fitzpatrick said, referring to a series of incidents involving violent images posted to social media. "This can't go on. Your friends are dying, while you stand there and video it. That's egregious."

Police said arrests will begin soon, but investigators are seeking details about other attackers who are believed to have come from surrounding high schools.

Morris' sister, Keyanna Morris, said he loved to skateboard and had many friends. The family had recently moved to Oceanside on Long Island from neighboring Freeport. "The moment he stepped foot in Oceanside, everyone loved him," his sister told Newsday.

The young woman cried while speaking of seeing the video of her bleeding brother writhing on the pavement.

"He was in so much pain," she said. 

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