Arrests Expected In Machete Assault

"I used the incident to emphasize that it was not a good idea to be associated with a gang," said Deborah C. Brown, the school's director. "They pretty much agreed with that. They were saying, 'You can't mess with the gangs, because they don't play.' "

Irene Prescott, the school's psychology teacher, said the 16-year-old approached her once when a student tried to pick a fight with him.

"Some bigger kid at the school wanted to start trouble, and he didn't want trouble. He just wanted to go to school," said Prescott, whose classroom has a poster the youth drew of a human head and brain, with labels pointing to parts of the brain such as the hypothalamus and cerebral cortex.

The school's security chief, Leroy Washington, said the attack caused intense curiosity among students. "They were saying: 'Why didn't he run? Why was he out there at night like this by himself?' " He added: "Some people thought he really wasn't in the gang and that he was just trying to be cool. They were saying, 'Where was his posse?' Most of the time, gangs have a posse."

Christian Rodriguez, 18, said the teenager often talked about his membership in the SSL and about the rivalry with MS-13. The youth told "war stories" about his gang life, he said.

"He would talk about how 'last week, I saw some MS dudes, and we fought, then, we would have bats and we'd just fight somewhere off Route 1,' " said Rodriguez, who sat next to the teenager in science class.

"He didn't have an attitude, but he carried himself like if someone steps up to him, he would be like, 'I'm going to crush him,' " Rodriguez said. "My guess is that he fought back. He doesn't back down and run."

Devlin said even though many resources are available for at-risk youth in Fairfax, more has to be done to reach out to teenagers who are vulnerable to gang life.

"The larger community question is what do we do with these kids who feel like they don't have a home in Fairfax County?" she said.

Staff writer Ian Shapira contributed to this report.