TULARE COUNTY, CA (KMJ) – Criminal charges are filed Wednesday against Noah Serrate, 19, for an attack on a student at Monache High School in Porterville.
Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward announced the filing, alleging that during the morning of May 19, 2025, Serrate entered a second-floor classroom armed with a knife and attacked a student before fleeing.
The DA says contrary to comments on social media, Serrate and the victim were strangers to each other.
Serrate, a former student at the school, is charged with willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder, felony aggravated mayhem, and misdemeanor disobeying a court order.
The felony charges are enhanced with special allegations that he used a deadly weapon, that he caused great bodily injury, that he was armed with a weapon, that the crime took planning, and that the crime was violent.
In addition, the charges are enhanced with the special allegation that the crime was committed while Serrate was out on bail due to a previous filed felony case in which he allegedly made violent threats towards Monache students and staff in April of 2024.
Serrate was prohibited from being in the vicinity of the school because of an active criminal protective order implemented in that case.
If convicted of all charges, Serrate faces life in prison.
At Wednesday’s arraignment, Serrate entered a plea of not guilty.
He will return to court on May 29, 2025, for a preliminary hearing setting.
He is being held in custody on no bail.
Listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern.
