Boy who found body sought help twice before an adult intervened
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A boy who found an eighth grader's slain body in a school restroom had to tell a security guard twice before the man checked, according to documents released Wednesday.
The boy -- a seventh grader identified by police as B.P.G -- alerted the guard after seeing feet in a stall and blood on the floor on February 3, according to his statement to police.
But the guard only intervened after the boy went into the restroom a second time with a friend, opened the stall and came out screaming that there was "a dead boy" in the bathroom, the statement said.
B.P.G. told police that 14-year-old Michael Hernandez, who has been charged with murder in the case, was in the restroom when he found Jaime Rodrigo Gough with fatal stab wounds.
A portion of Hernandez's journal released by a judge indicated anyone else he found in the bathroom could have been in danger: "Make sure there is no one in the bathroom If So Kill Them."
Gough was one of three people on a "hit list" in Hernandez's journal.
As a juvenile charged as an adult, Hernandez could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. A lawyer for Hernandez was out of the country and not immediately available for comment.
The attack was at Southwood Middle School in affluent Palmetto Bay, a magnet school specializing in visual and performing arts.
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