DENVER — "It was terrifying. I'm like, what happened to him?" asked Theodore Temple II.
Temple's 12-year-old son, Teddy, is recovering one week after his classmate at Marie L. Greenwood Academy stabbed him while they were in school.
Police quickly took the juvenile suspect into custody. He now faces charges of attempted murder and bias-motivated crime charges for his attack.
"I'm angry but.. just happy it wasn't worse," Theodore said.
These past few days have been tough for the Temple family. Last Thursday, Teddy was in art class when he said another student came after him.
"I just see the door open and he just rushes at me and he stabs me in my head," Teddy said. "I thought it was a ruler and I started seeing my blood, it started coming down and I just started screaming. I put him against the wall and I started punching him and punching him. And then he had stabbed my shoulder and he got my neck a little, too."
Teddy said his friends called 911 and got paper towels for his head. He said he then rushed to the nurse's office and was quickly taken to Children's Hospital.
News of what happened came as a shock to his father.
“I got a call and it said, 'Your son has been involved in an incident, get to Children’s Hospital as soon as possible,' And I’m like, what happened? Did he hurt himself at recess? Did he break his arm? I was told that there was a student that had a mental health crisis and had stabbed my son," Theodore said. "When I got there, his head and face was all bloody and the doctors were all around him. It was just heartbreaking."
Theodore, said the classmate who attacked his son used to be his friend. But over the last year, that changed.
“He started becoming like racist. He would make racist comments toward black people, sometimes Mexicans or just sexist comments," Teddy said.
That behavior soon escalated, Theodore said.
“He ended up blocking Teddy on social media," Theodore said. "He called him a bunch of racial slurs and then blocked him so he no longer could see any of his activities or statements but we have a few that he sent – some screenshots. And one in particular where he said I’m going to kill Teddy. But he sent it to another student, Teddy didn’t see it. We were unaware that it was sent in June.”
Theodore said after listening to the court proceedings Thursday, he believes his son was attacked because of his race.
"It was just totally because of his race, that was the sole reason behind it. He had every intention of killing him," Theodore said. "And he fractured his skull."
Now, that student is facing a number of charges, including attempted murder and bias-motivated crime.
"Even now, when I saw the child in court, to be honest, he looked small and innocent. You know, his mother was crying. My heart breaks for them," Theodore said.
One week after the attack, Teddy is now on the road to recovery.
"I'm doing a lot better now," Teddy said. "The pain, there's barely any. I'm taking some medicine and like, I should be getting off my staples in four to five days."
Theodore said what happened to his son and why is still hard to fully comprehend. Still, he's grateful it wasn't worse.
"I'm just thankful and blessed that no one else got hurt," Theodore said.
The Temple family has created a GoFundMe to help cover the cost of medical bills and counseling following the attack.
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