An 18-year-old student at Sterling High School in Baytown has been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of a fellow student following an altercation on campus this week.
According to a statement issued Friday by the Goose Creek CISD Police Department, Aundre Mathews, 18, was arrested in connection with the homicide of another Sterling High School student. District police said Mathews has been charged with murder, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has accepted the charge.
Mathews was initially held at the Baytown Police Department jail before being transferred to the Harris County Jail, according to district police.
Court records show Mathews appeared before a magistrate judge Friday, who set bail at $3 million but temporarily denied release pending a hearing scheduled for early January.
District police said the incident is considered an isolated altercation between two students who knew each other and that there is no indication of an ongoing threat to students or staff.
Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District previously confirmed that the incident occurred Wednesday during a fight on campus. One student was transported from the school by ambulance and later airlifted to the Texas Medical Center, where the student died.
In a letter to parents and staff issued Thursday, Superintendent Randal O’Brien said the district is grieving the loss of a student and expressed condolences to the victim’s family, friends, and classmates.
“My heart is heavy as I join the community in grieving yesterday’s tragedy at Sterling High School,” O’Brien wrote. “We are mourning the loss of a student, and our deepest condolences are with the student’s family, friends, and all Sterling Rangers.”
O’Brien said the district reopened Sterling High School on Thursday to provide in-person support for students and staff, with counselors and additional resources available across the campus and district.
He also cautioned families against relying on unverified information circulating on social media, noting that state and federal student privacy laws limit what the district can publicly disclose during an active criminal investigation.
District officials said future updates related to the police investigation will be posted through official Goose Creek CISD communications channels as the case proceeds.