HARTFORD, Conn. -- A student has been stabbed in the abdomen at a Hartford middle school, according to Hartford Public Schools.

Officials said the student was stabbed in the courtyard of Quirk Middle School Tuesday morning.

Hartford Public Schools spokesman Dave Medina told Eyewitness News that the stabbing occurred at about 8:15 a.m., before school began. Medina said that an eighth-grade student involved himself in an existing fight in the school's courtyard.

The student was stabbed in the abdomen, below the right ribcage during the altercation, Medina said.

The student was transported to St. Francis Hospital in stable condition, police said.

The school was placed in a state of lockdown at about 8:30 a.m., and remained locked down at 10:30 a.m.

The school district said that police recovered a pair of scissors following the fight. They said they are unsure as to whether the scissors were used in the stabbing.

The school is not a designating polling place.

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