Charges filed after stabbing of Berkeley High student

A homeless man who attacked a Berkeley High student Wednesday for no reason has been charged with felony assault and child abuse, according to court records and police.

Suspect Denarian Shipp had already been arrested by BART police that day on suspicion of battery, resulting from a fight on a BART train. He was booked at Berkeley Jail but was out of custody in a matter of hours, records show.

News of the unprovoked attack on a local student circulated this week on NextDoor and among Berkeley High parents online.

Police say the incident happened Wednesday at 3:40 p.m. as the 14-year-old boy waited to cross Martin Luther King Jr. Way and University Avenue from the southeast corner of the intersection.

"A suspect approached him and asked him for a cellphone charger and turned the boy around so that they were facing each other," police said in response to a Scanner inquiry. "The suspect then stabbed the boy's face with a pen in a downward motion — striking the boy's nose."

Shipp ran east on University Avenue, BPD said, and the boy ran to the Berkeley Police Department nearby for help.

Officers looked for the suspect based on witness descriptions and found Shipp Thursday afternoon at Shattuck Avenue and Kittredge Street.

He was detained without incident, BPD said.

On Friday, the Alameda County district attorney's office charged Shipp with assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse and corporal injury to a child, along with various enhancements.

According to booking records, he remains in custody at Santa Rita Jail and is set for arraignment Monday.

He has no other charged criminal cases in Alameda County Superior Court, according to court records.

Police said they could not release a booking photograph Friday due to the ongoing investigation.