http://suncoastpinellas.tbo.com/con...ties-stabbed-school-officer-almost-died/news/
PALM HARBOR - Kenneth Stoltman was known as a polite 13-year-old boy, a Boy Scout who would do odd jobs for neighbors at the 55-and-older mobile home park where he lived with his grandmother, her partner and his 18-year-old half-sister.
But a different portrait of the seventh-grader has emerged since Tuesday, when, authorities say,
he came to Carwise Middle School armed with a tactical knife and carrying a duffel bag containing 11 Molotov cocktails with wicks.
"This was planned out, thought out, with criminal intentions," said Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats, who described the 12-ounce glass bottles filled with gasoline as potential bombs.
Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney, said the boy planned to exact revenge from fellow students he thought were giving him a hard time
First period was just getting under way Tuesday when Stoltman's teacher noticed a strong gasoline smell emanating from the boy and mentioned it to him. Stoltman claimed he had spilled some on himself, and the teacher suggested he go to the bathroom to wash up.
He appeared to obey, bringing his duffel bag with him. Soon, though, the smell of gasoline was everywhere. Another teacher smelled it. Fridlund, who was in the courtyard, smelled it.
When radio reports about the smell began to circulate, Stoltman's teacher let everyone know where she had just sent him.
Stoltman had apparently hidden the duffel bag in a bathroom stall and started heading back to class when Fridlund confronted him. Stoltman then asked the officer to follow him back to the bathroom.
"He even said to Officer Fridlund
'Officer, here I want to show you something,'" Gavin said.
At the bathroom's threshold, Stoltman whipped around and lunged at the officer with the knife, which had a 4-inch blade. He managed to stab Fridlund in the abdomen, in a spot above the officer's gun belt and below his ballistic vest.
Gavin said Fridlund told him at the hospital that he saw the knife at the last second and tried to create some distance between himself and the boy, but the boy "was on me." Fridlund tried to avoid another thrust, and was stabbed in the shoulder.
The two start grappling, and as they did so began falling to the floor, with Stoltman "violently and repeatedly trying to get the gun out of his holster," Gavin said. On the floor, Stoltman got on top of Fridlund and stabbed him in the arm, said Pinellas Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Nestor.
Fridlund sprayed the boy with pepper spray, Gavin said. It slowed, but did not stop, the teen, who started crying and screaming about his eyes. Fridlund yelled for help.
One staff member arrived and laid down on Stoltman's legs, Gavin said. When another arrived, Fridlund handed the staff member his handcuffs to restrain Stoltman.
All the while, the officer was hanging onto the teen, Gavin said.
"In my mind, Kenny Fridlund's a hero," Gavin said. "He's been wounded. He's in a lot of pain. He's bleeding, and all he cares about is this kid doesn't get away in order to hurt anybody else at Carwise Middle School."
Fridlund was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where after a CAT scan doctors decided to perform emergency surgery. Fridlund was bleeding in his belly, and a surgeon removed 900 milliliters of blood, or enough to fill two small water bottles, Gavin said.
