A 19-year-old special education student at Kenwood High School has been arrested and charged in the rape of a female freshman Wednesday in a school stairwell.
Terry Carper Jr. of the first block of Oldfield Court, Essex, was charged with second-degree rape and second-degree assault Wednesday evening after he was taken into police custody.
Baltimore County police spokeswoman Cpl. Vickie Warehime said a 14-year-old student was talking with a group of friends about 9:30 a.m. when Carper, who is also a friend, said he wanted to talk.
Carper, a senior, took the girl into a stairwell where she said he raped and assaulted her, Warehime said. The girl was able to kick and push away and run for help, police said. She was treated at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Warehime said.
Carper is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in lieu of $35,000 bail, police said.
Charles A. Herndon, county schools spokesman, said officials are investigating.
Herndon said students were reporting to their first period at 9:30 a.m. and "there is some confusion" about whether any students witnessed the reported incident.
County high schools have an armed, uniformed county police officer in every building. Herndon said he was unable to determine whether Kenwood's officer was in the building at the time.
"With as many students as we have, it is impossible to monitor them all the time," Herndon said. "We feel that security is pretty good, but things can happen pretty quickly."
Kenwood High School, in the 500 block of Stemmers Run Road in Essex, has 1,650 students in grades nine through 12. This is the second report of a rape in a school in Baltimore County in less than a month.
Last week, the athletic director at Gwynn Lake College Preparatory School, a private school, was arrested and charged in the rape of a student in a school bathroom late last month.
