There have been more and more dangerous happenings on Washington street and the streets surrounding it...

As more and more trash moves into Marblehead this is what we get. Break-ins, heroin and now stabbings.

whatta LOOOOOOOOOSER ! I love his quote " I'm not stupid"....Hilarious.YES you are my lil man, Yes you are....now your life is ruined. Good luck on future job interviews...a life of minimum wage awaits you....how exciting!

what is wrong with this guy? ya think drinking is workin' out for ya einstein?

That kid should be locked up for life. First beer huh? What a dope. I hope he rots in jail. "I'm not stupid"..... yeah okay. Good luck when you get shcrged with attempted murder. There's a name for your kind.

My nephew is the victim of this crime. He has a very serious life threatening injury. We hope that justice will prevail. Please join our family in praying for my nephews quick and full recovery...

I'm not defending the kid in any way, but remember there is a family behind him who may also be suffering and not "trash" at all. Compassion for everyone is what's needed.

Mouth of the Harbor, where have you been, with exception to the stabbing, this stuff has been going on, and a lot of it by people from here, and alot of whom are not trash at all...alot of troubled teens and adults, for that matter stem from many people in this town...and I, too, do not condone what has happened, it's a terrible thing; however, yes, compassion is what is needed for all in the situation...nice kid from a good family, not trash...you haven't walked in their shoes...and although what he did was soooo very wrong, you don't know what this kid has gone through in his life. I pray for the victim and for the kid responsible. How about getting to the bottom of why this kid drinks, or why there's so much heroin/booze/other drugs going around, etc....It's a terrible, terrible thing what happened but the teens in this town and/or adults and the problems with booze and drugs is not without warrant....a lot of lost souls, not enough communication, or compassion...Again, I pray for all involved...senseless tragedy.

Lori, you remind me of the two liberals who while walking down a street come upon a man on ground who has been stabbed. One of them says" Oh my God, we have to find the person who did this - they really need help!"

John, I'm surprised you don't agree with Lori. The message between the lines of her comment is that as a society, we are raising our children wrong. When she says, "You don't know what this kid has gone through in his life," it implies that people have put him through things or allowed him to gothrough things that they shouldn't have.

This is just one instance of the wider questions of how we keep our children from growing up capable of doing something like this and how we can turn them around so we don't have to pay the massive costs of keeping them behind bars for years at a time (or life, as Lulu — who apparently doesn't have to worry about her share of the cost — suggests).

I believe I was taught not to run with scissors or stab people in elementary school. As far as "I don't know what this kid has been through"-at 18, people become responsible for their own behavior.

Yes they do need to take responsibility for their own behavior...I'm simply implying the 18 yr old is a good kid who has made some bad decisions...and yes, I know him. My heart goes out to both families.

First, he's not a "kid" as he is an 18 year old. Secondly, I would construe attempted murder as more than a "bad decision".

excuse me that last post was just a test to see if I could post anything and doesnt get my thoughts across in a rational manner. But seriously, this all raises the question; what makes different people make different decisions? Why are some people driven to destruct and self-destruct while others are not? Maybe if you were Matt you'd understand what's behind his actions, but you probably wouldn't because i doubt he does either...I am a friend of his and wish that things had turned out better because all the people that care for him (and there are many) are going to miss him when he is serving time. There is a HUGE culture of underage drinking in marblehead and i think we all know what can happen when intense emotions and alcohol mix. we are all products of our environments, not just marblehead but the music we listen to, the tv we watch, the friends we fall in with and the things we've gone through. please do not judge matt or anyone else for that matter because none of us know what it is like to walk in eachothers shoes. i bet all of you have messed up something in your life. remember how that felt for a minute and then rethink about posting negative comments about him. remember how much you beat yourself up? we all know that the "justice" system has enough punishment waiting for him without you.

Wow...walk in the innocent victims shoes for one second before you try to explain the perpetrators actions...the root cause of his violent act is not a concern..its too late, it went too far...someone almost died. He needs to accept full responsibility for his actions as should his parents and his so called friends for helping him before it was too late. As the victim's family we have sorrow for Elliot and prayers for Matthew and his family.

A "good kid" doesn't stab someone... sorry.... and he's not a kid, he's a legal adult who did far more than make "a bad decision". A "bad decision" is drinking under age.. which he was doing ... three times the legal limit. A bad decision is verbally attacking a stranger which he was also doing. Stabbing someone in the BACK, unprovoked is far more than a "bad decision" my friend. Someone who is 18 years of age that already has a criminal record is not a "good kid" That "good kid" , stabbed my cousin in the back because he's a drunk punk who's fate is sealed by his foolish behavior that could have killed someone because he was "sensitive". He is exactly where he belongs! And he deserves everything he gets because guess what? At 18 he's caused this much trouble, give him 10 more years and see what he does. I was fortunate enough to have dinner with my cousin tonight, Matthew Schwartz almost took that from me. Tell me he's a "good kid".

Thank you morgan and Lori, none of you know what was going on in his life at this time nor what he has been through. compassion is what we need, he is a great person deep down, I have known him all my life.... how dare you call him trash, you don't know him so don't make those assumptions. everyone works differently and makes mistakes. I know he would never do that again, and would do anything to take it back. yes it too late and he will get his punishment for what he did. anyone who knows him knows this... compassion for the ones he loved and the ones who loved him.... by the way its not attemptive murder ... it's assault and battery with a deadly weapon and he does not deserve 10 years. he is 18 years old he has the rest of his life to fix what he did and he will. maybe one day he will be your boss. you all should mind your own business and fix your own lives and stop being so judgmental ...

Those of you who know Matthew Schwartz seem to place much of the blame for what he did on what he has been through. If you want to help us as a society avoid putting more young people through the same things, with similar results, you should identify what those things are. When we know what went wrong in his life, then we can try to promote changes in the way we deal with children tp avoid doing to others what was done to him. But these vague references, however meaningful they are to you who know the facts of his life, are worthless to the rest of us. They neither help us understand Matthew, nor give us any guidance as to how to reshape the way we bring up children.

Having worked with kids Matt's age I have seen good kids do bad things and I have seen kids that are just not good. I am not saying he was justified or that I condone his actions at all, but I don't know him so I am not going to label him as a horrible person. He deserves to be punished, but maybe jail time will serve as a great wake up call and he will shape up his act.

As for the victim, my heart does go out to him and his family. Again, I don't know him but nobody deserves or asks for this. His life will be forever changed - physically and emotionally.

Honestly, both people need our prayers and thoughts. The victim needs prayers of love and swift recovery. Matt needs our prayers of forgiveness and compassion.

Seems like Joe Whipple just wants all the gossip.... "until someone tells us what went wrong in his life...blah blah" really? You're that interested in this persons life now? Only a few people on here know matt personally and those are the people that should be worried. I pray for the victm and I'm not saying what matt did was right at all but for those of us who know matt, we know he needs help and not a bunch of townies criticizing him, his family, or friends.

Why does the article continue to refer to the victim as "alleged"? If he had died I guess he would be the "alleged dead"?

I think you misunderstood my comment lol but regardless. Calling him names is not going to help I agree with you however, making excuses for his behavior won't help either. Kari you need to understand that as his friend you are infuriating Elliott's family by trying to make light of this situation. As unfair as you feel it is for people to be negative about Matt imagine how we feel about you trying to justify his actions by blaming alcohol, or alluding to other people's "mistakes" or how people chose to handle said situations. The point is, there are no excuses. What he did was inhumane, that cannot be argued with no matter what you or anyone else tries to support it with. You cannot ask Elliott's friends and family to support Matt, would you in our situation? My cousin IS a good kid. That CAN be documented, there are NO excuses there. What do you have to say to and for my cousin? What support are you offering him? At the very least it is obvious that Matt has a very serious alcohol and anger problem that needs to be addressed. People need to be real about him not blow smoke up everyone's ass about what a good kid he is. He needs help not a bunch of kind words. His family needs to see how his actions have affected MY FAMILY, ELLIOTT'S FAMILY ... We do not owe them kind words and support. Do you understand that and have any sympathy for what we are going though? And keep in mind no one in MY family called Matthew ANY names!

End of story.... sadly it is not the end. Not for Matt nor Elliott. Not for a long time yet. I don't think anyone is trying to change what happened. We know that it is much too late for that. Sadly what Matt did opened himself up to the public and now this is just one small piece of what he will have to deal with. As much as I am sure he appreciates you all waving the flag of peace and defense in his honor, it won't change what he did and it won't stop the public from voicing their opinions. It's the beauty and the beast of the first amendment. Truthfully, you are making it worse for him. You are making him look worse! Your words I am sure are meant to find the soft spots in our hearts but they are filling potential sympathy we could ever have with lumps of disgust. I do have sympathy for Matthew... and here it is: That he has people in his life who don't hold him accountable for his actions. People who make excuses for his deplorable behavior and who clearly enable him to continue to live this way. I learned all of this about him from reading all of your posts. I am not a religious woman but if I were I would pray for Matt and in that prayer I would ask that he become well and never ever attempt to take another human beings life again for such foolish reason's, or any reason's for that matter. And finally I would ask that the people that surround him take a step back and help him by treating him like an adult not a baby. Give him some tough love. He needs it.

Paula if u talk to him, tell him connor dougherty will always be here as his brother and his friend nomatter where he is in life, please let him know that he isnt alone in this world and that i miss him so much...