Teenage girl charged with premeditated first-degree murder in school stabbing

Witnesses claim Tanaya Lewis was smiling and laughing during attack

Tanaya Lewis, 17, was charged with premeditated first-degree murder (Warren County Police Department)

A teenage girl is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole after she allegedly stabbed a fellow student in front of her classmates and teacher.

Tanaya Lewis, 17, was charged with premeditated first-degree murder after allegedly stabbing 16-year-old Danyna Gibson at Fitzgerald High School in Warren, Michigan, on 12 September.

According to Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer, the former friends were embroiled in a dispute over Tanaya’s boyfriend and got into a fight in the classroom at around 8.30am.

Prosecutors said that Danyna tried to flee but Tanaya pursued, yelling “I'm going to kill her" while smiling and laughing.

Tanaya allegedly then used what was described as a "straight-edged kitchen knife" to stab the victim four times in front of at least 20 witnesses.

Danyna, who was stabbed twice in the back and twice in the chest, suffered a punctured lung and died in the hospital an hour later.

"Premeditation is abundant in this case," Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said after the suspect was held in the county jail without bond.

"It's simple as the fact that she brought a knife to school – that in and of itself is premeditation. But there was previous dispute, there (were) things said previous to this ... the fact that the defendant chased the victim throughout the class while this was going on."

In Michigan, a person is tried as an adult from the age of 17.

A statement from Fitzgerald High School said school officials were “working very closely with the police department on this matter as well as conducting an internal school review of the incident which will review all our current safety procedures and protocols".

The school reopened on 14 September after students were dismissed following the stabbing. The second-floor classroom where the stabbing occurred remains a crime scene and has been sealed off.

The male student whom the attack was apparently over is said to be cooperating with the investigation.