Knight-Brantley carried a 2-liter soda bottle filled with gasoline and the lighter in her hooded sweatshirt before attacking the guards, Brandon Murray and Leah Pyle, on Monday morning, Wilkinsburg police said in a criminal complaint.
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A suspended high school student in western Pennsylvania caused a major disruption Monday when she allegedly doused a school security guard in gasoline, causing the entire school to be evacuated due to the fumes. The school has an after school food program so she returned to get something to eat.
Mr Murray said he was concerned because if she had managed to set him alight, he would have been unable to “drop and roll” as he was standing in a pool of petrol.
Police and Wilkinsburg School District officials did not release the girl’s name, age or grade, though school board President Ed Donovan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that she was suspended on Friday after an unspecified incident. However, regardless of her suspension, she attempted to gain entry into the school on Monday. She had no legal representation at the time of her arrest and was only accompanied by her grandmother.
Moments later, other security guards restrained the teenager, who he said was carrying a grill lighter.
OSA Global, the New Castle company that contracts to provide the school guards, did not immediately return a call for comment.
Murray was working Tuesday but was unlikely to return to the school on Wednesday, Camarda said.
In an interview with KDKA-TV, Officer Murray said the girl began banging on doors before she threw the liquid on in his face.
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The girl did not attempt to light the fuel, Camarda said. It is understood that she has now been charged as an adult.
