Police: Junior high student stabbed repeatedly by another teen on school bus

STEELE, Mo. -- A teenager boarded a school bus with a hunting knife and stabbed another student more than a dozen times before bystanders could pull him away, police and the victim said.

John Moore, 14, was in good condition Friday, two days after the attack. The suspect, also 14, was put in juvenile custody. No motive has been determined.

A hearing is planned for Monday to determine if the suspect should be charged as an adult, said Sheriff Tommy Greenwell, adding that his office will likely ask prosecutors to consider a charge of attempted murder.

The stabbing happened as John got on the South Pemiscot School bus Wednesday and headed toward the back, where the suspect was sitting, the sheriff said.

John said the attack came as a surprise.

"He was like, 'what's up?' So I was like, 'what's up?' too. I turn around, and he starts stabbing me," he told Fox News Channel in an interview that aired Friday. "I scooted up 3 feet and I fall down, and he keeps on stabbing me. Just stabbing me, stabbing me, stabbing me."

The bus driver pulled into a convenience store parking lot and began calling for help, Greenwell said. The store owner and other bystanders managed to pull the suspect off the bus and disarm him.

"I was just wondering if I was going to die and if my 6-year-old sister was watching, because she must be traumatized from seeing that," John said.

John said he was stabbed 20 times and had a collapsed lung.

A few other students were on the bus, but no one else was hurt, Greenwell said.

Pemiscot County is in Missouri's southeast corner.