CARUTHERSVILLE -- The teen suspect in the school bus stabbing assault Wednesday in Steele was declared an adult by the courts.
Raymond Allen Johnson, 14, was certified as an adult Monday in a juvenile certification hearing in Pemiscot County, according to Pemiscot County Sheriff Tommy Greenwell.
Johnson was taken into custody at the time of the hearing and is being held at the Pemiscot County Justice Center without bond. He is charged with first degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the stabbing of John Moore, 14, while on the way to school on a South Pemiscot School District bus.
Moore, who is still hospitalized in Memphis, Tenn., was reportedly in good condition Friday after surgery at the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center in Memphis for 20 stab wounds to the chest, back, legs and arms. Injuries included a collapsed lung.
Johnson is expected to return to court for an appearance before Judge Byron Luber at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Both the victim and the suspect are students at South Pemiscot Middle School in Steele.
Pemiscot County 911 received a call from a convenience store at Route O and 55 at 7:26 a.m. Wednesday stating a school bus was on the parking lot, a student had been stabbed and another student was armed with a knife.
Law enforcement officers arriving at the scene found the suspect being held on the ground at gun point by a citizen armed with a pistol and took the suspect into custody without incident.
Greenwell said the stabbing happened as Moore got on the bus and headed toward the back where the suspect was sitting.
''He was like, what's up? So I was like, what's up too. I turn around and he starts stabbing me,'' Moore told Fox News Channel in an interview aired Friday. ''I scooted up 3 feet and I fall down, and he keeps on stabbing me. Just stabbing me, stabbing me, stabbing me.''
The bus driver pulled onto the parking lot and called for help. The store owner and other bystanders then pulled the suspect off the bus and disarmed him.
''I was just wondering if I was going to die and if my 6-year-old sister was watching, because she must be traumatized from seeing that,'' Moore said.
Some information for this story was provided by the Associated Press.