NJ teen who was stabbed 7 times is now charged along with his attacker

🚨 16-year-old was stabbed 7 times in Bergen County

🚨 Aunt says he needed 3-hour surgery, claims bullying led to attack

🚨 Both teens facing serious assault and weapons charges

HACKENSACK — A 16-year-old whose aunt spoke at a City Council meeting hours after he was stabbed seven times near a police station has now been charged in the incident.

Luz Diaz, the teen's aunt, told council members that her nephew was in surgery for three hours after the attack. Diaz said that before the stabbing, she tried to report previous incidents to school administrators, who told her they could not get involved because most of the incidents happened outside the school.

But Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said the teen swung a machete at Joaquin Morris Jr., 18, in a fight near Central and Union avenues. Morris stabbed the teen in the torso. The teen was found a block away at the intersection of State Street and Banta Place around 3 p.m. He was taken to HMH Hackensack University Medical Center.

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Both teens now face serious assault and weapons charges

Musella did not disclose the circumstances of the stabbing. Diaz told CBS New York that her nephew's family pulled the teen out of school because of bullying. Diaz thinks this attack was related, and she is seeking justice for her nephew.

The teen was charged Wednesday as a juvenile with one count of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of third-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and one count of fourth-degree possession of a weapon. After his release from the hospital, the teen was placed in the custody of the Bergen County Juvenile Detention Facility.

Morris was charged with one count of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of third-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and one count of fourth-degree possession of a weapon. He is being held at the Bergen County Jail.

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