The 15-year-old high school student who was fatally stabbed during the school’s dismissal Wednesday afternoon in Northeast Washington was attacked during a dispute moments after he had texted his father, who had just arrived to pick him up, the youth’s grandmother said.

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       The grandmother and D.C. police identified the youth as Kemon Payne, who lived with his mother and younger sister in Congress Heights in Southeast Washington.

       “We don’t have any answers to what happened,” the grandmother, Valerie Payne, 62, said in a telephone interview.

       D.C. police detained a 16-year-old in the stabbing, and authorities said Thursday the youth would be charged as a juvenile with second-degree murder while armed. That means his identity and court case will remain sealed in records.

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       The District has recorded 127 homicides this year, 8 percent over this time in 2020, which ended with a 16-year high. Including Kemon, this year’s young homicide victims in the city include a 6-year old, three 15-year-olds, two 16-year-olds and one 17-year-old.

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       Kemon was stabbed about 3:10 p.m. at a bus stop in front of KIPP DC College Preparatory public charter school in the 1400 block of Brentwood Parkway NE, near Union Market and Gallaudet University.

       Police said they do not know what sparked the deadly altercation, which happened amid a large gathering of youths and as administrators tried to provide safe passage for students leaving the school.

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       The KIPP charter network is one of the first schools to reopen for the fall semester, and Kemon was killed in his first week of high school. It was the first time for nearly all students to have in-person learning since schools shut down in March 2020 to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

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       The freshman had attended orientation a week earlier. He had been with KIPP DC since preschool, attending school at the network’s Douglass campus along Douglass Road SE, closer to his home.

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       KIPP DC said the fatal stabbing occurred 15 minutes after dismissal on the five-acre campus. School leadership was on scene and administered first aid to Kemon. Adam Rupe, spokesman for KIPP DC, said the school hires two off-duty police officers each day for dismissal. They were on the campus, though the school is still piecing together where everyone was and what led to the altercation.

       D.C. police said one officer was inside the school and had called for help after noticing a large group of students out front who appeared to be lingering.

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       Payne, the victim’s maternal grandmother, said Kemon’s mom would drop him off at the school in the morning and his father would pick him up in the afternoon. She said his father pulled up to the school and couldn’t see his son.

       He texted Kemon, who responded that he was on his way, but Kemon didn’t come. Payne said the boy’s father then noticed a large crowd, a commotion and police arriving. She said he did not see the stabbing. “He is a wreck right now,” she said.

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       Payne described Kemon as an energetic, caring teenager who boxed in his spare time. She said he recently won a trophy at his first boxing tournament in Philadelphia.

       “He was caring,” Payne said, adding that her grandson was big for his age, but always peaceful. “He wanted to protect his family from everything.” He had many relatives in the area, she said.

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       The KIPP school said it has been in contact with Kemon’s youth minister and is learning that he was a promising and well-liked youth leader in his Ward 8 community.

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       “He was a vibrant part of our school and he will be deeply missed,” said Stephanie Young, principal of KIPP DC College Preparatory, which canceled classes Thursday and held virtual counseling sessions with students.

       KIPP DC is the District’s largest charter network, educating more than 7,000 students on its campuses. The high school is the network’s flagship upper school, with more than 800 students enrolled.

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       In 2018, Tyshon Perry, a 16-year-old KIPP student, was fatally stabbed at the NoMa-Gallaudet Metro station, which students from multiple schools use to commute. Many classmates witnessed the killing. Two teenagers who are cousins were charged in Tyshon’s killing, and their trials are scheduled for November.

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       Tyshon was one of several D.C. students killed on the way home from school during the 2017-2018 academic year. That spurred a citywide effort to provide more resources for “safe passage” programs to ensure that children could get to school and home again safely. KIPP DC students and staffers were part of that effort, and the charter network started providing a shuttle that would take students to and from the NoMa-Gallaudet station each school day.

       The administration of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said Friday at a school reopening news conference that it would have 24 new shuttle routes in Wards 7 and 8 to help students get to school safely.