Abraham Lopez, 18, a senior at South East high School in South Gate has been charged with the murder of his ex-girl friend Cindy Santana, 17, according to jail records.

The cause is still unknown. During the school’s lunch break, the couple had an argument on late Friday morning, according to Sheriff’s Deputy Benjamin Grubb’s statement Saturday.

Lopez, who is allegedly 250 pounds, overpowered Santana easily. During the confrontation, he beat up Santana, choked up her and pusher her to the ground.

Lopez then stabbed her several times before others, including an on-campus Los Angeles police officer, another student and a female dean of the school, stepped in to stop him, authorities said. All suffered minor wounds.

Santana died at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood following an unsuccessful surgery.

A student, Raymond Gutierrez, regarded the incident as brutal.

According to another student, Deisy Nava, she saw blood on the ground and a friend of Santana's holding her hand.

I feel bad for the family and for all the friends. She's gone but never forgotten. I didn't know her, but all my respects are to her. I wish that wouldn't have happened. I wish there was more security in our school, said Nava.

Lopez had also declared that he had planted bombs at the parking structure of the hospital and in other places, but the Sheriff’s arson and explosive squad did not find any suspicious devices after searching the hospital and Santana’s home, authorities said.

The school was locked down after the incident.

Lopez has been charged on suspicion of murder without bail and is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

This is our bread and butter, the safety and security of our students. It's difficult to understand if somebody gets stabbed, but then when we lose a student as a result of that, let's face it there isn't anything worse, said Los Angeles Unified School District Police Chief Steve Zipperman.

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