A Connecticut teenager was fatally stabbed at school this morning, apparently by a boy who wanted to take her to tonight's junior prom, the Hartford Courant reports. Police say Maren Sanchez, 16, was attacked in the hall at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Conn., and died about a half hour later. Police have taken a 16-year-old male into custody. "There was blood on her neck. It was awful," said a student. "I saw the girl lying on the stretcher when they took her out."
Police haven't confirmed reports that she turned down the boy's offer to go to the prom, ABC News reports. According to one student, a teacher who saw the attack said that Sanchez (who has a boyfriend) declined the boy's offer, so the boy started strangling her, pushed her down stairs, and stabbed her, Fox News reports. As police investigate, school staff and students are grappling with the loss. They say Sanchez was an athlete and a member of the National Honor Society. "She did everything—people knew her that way," said a teacher. "Today was just devastating." (More stabbing stories.)