Students Return to South Gate School After Fatal Stabbing

A moment of silence is planned Monday as students return to South East High School in South Gate to remember a slain classmate.

Cindi Santana, 17, was stabbed during an on-campus attack Friday, allegedly by her former boyfriend. She died later at a hospital Friday night after complications from surgery, authorities said.

Abraham Lopez, 18, is expected to be arraigned Monday on a charge of  murder. He's been held without bail at the Men's Central Jail in downtown L.A.

Counselors will be at the school Monday. A memorial with candles and flowers was placed at the entrance to the school.

"I can't believe it. It can't even sink into my head," a student at the memorial Sunday told NBC4.

Comments on Lopez's Facebook page were directed at his ex-girlfriend, classmates said.

Among the comments posted two days before the stabbing: "...the fact that you denied what we had in front of your mom and my sis' is what is breaking me the most. You had something good and you threw it away. I hope you soon realize."

Witness accounts of the attack painted a picture of an argument that escalated to violence. Lopez grabbed Santana and placed her in a headlock as several people tried to stop the attack in a school courtyard, witnesses told investigators.

Jorge Garcia, an 11th-grade varsity football player, and a female dean also were stabbed or cut while trying to stop the  attack, school police said.

An inmate matching Lopez's name and birthday was arrested last Sunday for making criminal threats and was released on Tuesday, just days before he allegedly stabbed his girlfriend, according to jail documents.

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