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Special Investigator Finds No Evidence Of Bullying At School In Bronx Stabbing Case

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A report by the city's special commissioner of investigation has found that there was no evidence that a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing a fellow student was bullied at school.

Noel Estevez is accused of killing 14-year-old classmate Timothy Crump with a kitchen knife outside I.S. 117 on June 18.

Estevez's attorney has said Crump and his friends spent months bullying Estevez and that the teen had acted in self-defense.

EXTRA: Read The Report

Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon concluded no allegations of bullying or harassment were ever reported to school staff that worked with the children.

"We did not find a lot of evidence that he had been bullied at the school or that the school had failed to do anything, which is not to say that he was not bullied," Condon told 1010 WINS.  "Things might've happened on the street. We can't say that he was not being harassed or bullied, but it was not happening at school, and the school really didn't seem to have a lot of information to indicate that that was happening."

The report found that Crump rarely attended school in 2014 and Estevez was not in school for several weeks prior to the stabbing.

Special Investigator Finds No Evidence Of Bullying At School In Bronx Stabbing Case

"One of the main things in the press is that (Estevez's) father came to the school begging for a transfer," Condon told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman. "We can't substantiate that at all."

However, more than a month before the stabbing, an Administration for Children's Services worker told a guidance counselor Estevez was being harrassed by several kids, the report said.

Timothy Crump
Timothy Crump was stabbed multiple times in front of I.S. 117 in the Bronx. (Credit: Handout)

"The guidance counselor didn't recall being told," Condon said. "That was the one part that was troubling."

Condon concluded there was not much the school could have done to prevent the stabbing. His investigators were not able to talk to Estevez's family, Silverman reported.

Condon also said that police had no record of Estevez being hurt or assaulted by anyone.

Estevez was indicted earlier this month on a charge of second-degree manslaughter – a lower charge than he initially faced. Estevez had been charged as an adult with murder, but the case will now go to Family Court with the reduced charge, prosecutors said.

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