Devin Scott’s first day at Harding High School was the day he was killed there, the teen’s father said Monday.

Devin Denelle Edward Scott, 15, was a sophomore whose nickname was “Cheese.” He was good at basketball and was a funny kid who liked spending time with friends, Napoleon Scott said.

“I want people to know that (despite) the way he died, he wasn’t a bad person,” said Nadia Scott, 22, one of Devin’s older sisters. “He had the heart of a lion” and would stand up for what he thought was right, she said.

His sister called him “super goofy. He was never serious.”

Devin Scott was stabbed in a school hallway after a fight late Friday morning. His brother, also 15, was in a nearby classroom and wanted to get out to help, according to Jolaine Sanders, the mother of three of Devin’s siblings.

She said the teen told her he said, “I gotta get to my brother, I gotta get out,’” but he wasn’t allowed to leave the classroom.

Harding was closed Monday and will remain closed Tuesday. In the wake of the stabbing, police officers are returning — at least temporarily — to Harding and four other St. Paul district high schools.

Charging decision expected Tuesday

Police on Friday arrested a 16-year-old Harding student at the East Side school.

A judge granted the Ramsey County attorney’s office a 24-hour extension to decide on charges for the teen suspect; prosecutors likely will make a charging determination Tuesday, spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said.

A previous homicide may be related to what happened Friday.

In October, 16-year-old Antwan Calvin Watson — who had been arrested for bringing a stolen gun to Harding last April — was killed in a daytime shooting in a St. Paul alley. Another 16-year-old was charged with murder.

There’d been a fissure between two groups before the shooting and the conflict widened afterward, driven by disrespect on social media by both sides, according to a law enforcement source. Friday’s fight and stabbing at Harding was related to the same disputes, the source said.

Devin Scott’s father and sister said Monday they didn’t know anything about that possibility. They said their understanding was that Devin was trying to help his friend, who was in a fight, when he was stabbed. The police department has not released information about what led to the stabbing.

Father said son received threats

Napoleon Scott said his son had been getting threats on social media — his father said he didn’t know why — before he started at Harding. Devin Scott previously attended Humboldt High School, on the West Side, his father said.

“I hope they can do better — put metal detectors or something in there — because … it could have been prevented, but it wasn’t and the worst happened,” Napoleon Scott said.

St. Paul Public Schools informed employees Monday that the city police department is placing two officers outside each of Harding, Central, Como Park, Humboldt and Washington high schools. They’ll be stationed there through at least the end of this week, district spokeswoman Erica Wacker said.

“These officers will work closely with each school’s administration and security teams and remain on-site outside the school as an immediate resource,” Laura Olson, the district’s director of security and emergency management, wrote.

Neither school district nor police department employees can recall another time there was a homicide inside a St. Paul public school.

Harding will remain closed Tuesday.

“Our entire school community needs to come together to heal, and I look forward to welcoming everyone back on Wednesday to begin that process,” Principal Be Vang wrote to the school’s families. The school district’s crisis support team will continue be available Tuesday for students and families.

On Monday evening, more than 200 people attended a candlelight vigil outside the school, which was organized by the St. Paul Federation of Educators.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter told the crowd that “our schools must be sanctuaries of peace.”

“The fact that we are standing here simply means that we have not done enough to keep ourselves from having to stand here,” he said.

“This is work that we all have to be a part of,” Carter added.

The Rev. Runney Patterson of New Hope Baptist Church told the mourners he has presided over the funerals of about 70 young Black men who died by violence.

“Listen to me, young men; listen to me, young women,” Patterson said. “Use your heads, not your hands. Don’t let a five-second mistake take you away from your family, take you away from the community, and take you away from the life that you could be living.”

Harding senior Hawti Boranto, the president of the school’s 2023 graduating class, asked her fellow students to “lean on each other and hold each other through these hard times.”

“This tragedy will fully change the trajectory of this community, and I just pray and hope that the ripple effect is positive and brings us peace,” she said.

As the vigil ended, members of Devin’s family released dozens of white and blue balloons.

Harding staff gathered Monday and will again on Tuesday “to discuss ways to support our students,” Vang wrote in the letter to families.

In addition to the police presence, the school district is placing a third full-time school support liaison at Harding, Olson said.

School support liaisons employed and trained by the district have become the primary security personnel for the district since the school board voted in June 2020 not to continue paying city police officers to work in the schools. The decision followed the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd the previous month.

Olson said Monday the district was taking the security measures in response to “traumatic events at or near” the campuses of the five schools.

Last month, a Central student was shot and seriously injured outside a city recreation center near the high school. Two days later, a Washington staff member was shot in the ear during a fight among students after school.

Students have been caught with guns at least four times at Harding in the last two school years.

Nick Woltman contributed to this report.