DETROIT – A Michigan mother pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after giving her daughter a knife that was used in a school stabbing.
Lacara Anita Parks, 37, of Detroit, pled guilty Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, to a misdemeanor charge of possession of a weapon in a weapons-free school zone.
The misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor was dropped.
Parks was charged after police said she snuck a pocketknife into Gompers Elementary-Middle School on Oct. 8 and gave it to her 13-year-old daughter.
The knife was given to the daughter “to use if she needed to defend herself on the way home from school,” according to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
That day, the girl stabbed another 13-year-old student multiple times, according to authorities. The victim’s mother said the girl was stabbed in her head, back, and arm.
Parks and her daughter were arrested Oct. 8. The 13-year-old is charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm and possession of a weapon in a weapons-free school zone.
The school’s assistant principal was placed on leave during the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s internal review of the stabbing, Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti said.
“This case illustrates that a lot of things went wrong on many levels, and as a result, a child was stabbed,” said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. “It’s unacceptable. We can do so much better than this for our children.”