MIAMI -- A teenager accused of fatally stabbing a classmate at a South Florida high school wasn't threatened by his classmate, but took a knife to school because the other teen had looked at him with a "bad face," according to details released by prosecutors.

Andy Rodriguez, 17, told investigators that he and Juan Carlos Rivera, 17, pumped elbows in the school hallway Sept. 15, where he stabbed Rivera with a box cutter, according to a videotaped statement released Monday by prosecutors.

"I took it out of my pocket, and I got him like that, from the side," Rodriguez said in the statement.

Rodriguez's attorney, Alexander J. Michaels, said his client was forced to strike and believed Rodriguez has a "solid self-defense claim."

Along with the videotaped statement to Miami-Dade detectives, prosecutors also released surveillance tapes, witness transcripts, and police and autopsy reports.

Security video showed Rodriguez running into the hallway after the stabbing, avoiding students and removing his red shirt. A school officer caught him a few blocks away.

Rodriguez was charged with second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty. An autopsy showed Rivera was stabbed five times. The fatal blow pierced his heart.

Rodriguez has no previous criminal history, but police records showed officers had responded to his home nine times since February, including to a report of "a large family fight with knives."

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