What to know about Foss High School, scene of Thursday’s stabbing incident
The Tacoma high school where multiple people were stabbed Thursday was the site of a fatal shooting in 2007.
Foss High School is located in central Tacoma. The school had 557 students enrolled at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, according to state records.
The school prides itself on its diversity and sense of community, according to its website.
“Our students embrace and celebrate diversity. Our staff is dedicated to supporting the social emotional needs of our students,” according to the school website. “Foss is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School committed to our mission of developing every student to be inquiring, knowledgeable, and reflective through intercultural understanding and respect.”
Hispanic and Latino students make up the largest share of the student population at Foss at 25.7%, Black and African-American students are at 22.3% and white students at 22.4%.
More than half of students Foss identified as “low income,” according to the state.
The school previously dealt with on-campus violence.
In 2007, a mentally ill Foss student fatally shot 17-year-old Samnang Kok in a school hallway. Douglas S. Chanthabouly, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for a crime that a Pierce County Superior Court judge had said affected “the entire community,” The News Tribune previously reported.
The shooting on Jan. 3, 2007, occurred shortly before the first bell and in a hall that was crowded with students, teachers and staff. Chanthabouly had delusionally believed that Kok was a gang member out to get him and his younger brother, according to two mental health experts’ testimony during trial, but jurors decided he knew right from wrong.
Students, faculty and staff testified during the trial about recalling the smell of gunpowder and also the panic that erupted as students fled the school in fear for their lives, The News Tribune reported.
This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 3:24 PM.
