Henderson charged in GFH homecoming stabbing; GFPS makes security changes for football games
Ira Hayes Henderson, Jr. has been charged with felony counts of assault with a weapon and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence in connection with the Oct. 2 stabbing after the Great Falls High homecoming game.
A district court judge issued an arrest warrant and Henderson was arrested on Oct. 6 in Vaughn.
Henderson was booked into the Cascade County Adult Detention Center at 4:53 p.m., according to the jail roster, on a $100,000 bond.
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He’ll likely make an initial appearance in district court on Oct. 7.
The Cascade County Attorney’s Office filed in court on Oct. 5 regarding the incident to obtain the arrest warrant.
According to that document, Det. Jesse Rosteck was notified at about 9:45 p.m. Oct. 2 that a male had been stabbed at 2nd Avenue South and 20th Street South, which was near Great Falls High School after its homecoming football game at Memorial Stadium.
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Emergency personnel arrived on scene and found a 17-year-old male, N.R., who had been stabbed in the abdomen. He was transported to the hospital with a “life-threatening injury,” according to court documents.
He was released from the hospital on Oct. 5, according to the Great Falls Police Department.
Several witnesses told law enforcement that Henderson, 21, had a physical disturbance with his girlfriend, A.M.
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Witnesses said that several high school students had attempted to intervene and chased Henderson away from the school. Shortly after that, N.R. returned to the intersection of 2nd Avenue South and 20th Street, stating Henderson had stabbed him in the stomach.
A witness told investigators that she was friends with Henderson’s girlfriend, whom Henderson believed had been unfaithful so he was mad.
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The witness said that she’d seen Henderson chasing his girlfriend across the football field.
A.M. told officers that Henderson was an ex-boyfriend and that he had chased her, taken her phone and that she’d seen several students chase Henderson away from the high school.
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Law enforcement obtained video that showed Henderson chasing A.M. and physically engaging with her on the north side of Memorial Stadium. He can also be seen fleeing the area while being chased by numerous students, according to court documents.
Another person told officers that the stabbing victim had told him before being loaded into an ambulance that he’d been chasing Henderson, grabbed his backpack to stop him and Henderson had spun around and stabbed him, according to court documents.
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That witness said the victim had described the suspect as “a tall, skinny, Native American male with straight hair, which matches Henderson’s description,” according to court documents.
At 11:40 p.m. Oct. 2, Sgt. Kaleb Larson, the detective overseeing the school resource officers this year, was at the scene of the stabbing and found a black iPhone in a pink case.
On Oct. 3, Larson went back to the scene and found a wet black backpack that was believed to have been left and soaked by the sprinklers.
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An employee of Buffalo Blanc, the coffee shop across the street from the high school at 1925 2nd Ave. S., told investigators the backpack had been there when they arrived to work.
Another officer collected the backpack and emptied the contents to dry.
A picture of H.B. was inside and law enforcement believes Henderson to have a possible family connection with that person and their guardian, according to court documents.
Larson obtained video from Buffalo Blanc in which the stabbing victim is chasing who appears to be Henderson, then goes out of view, where he’s believed to have been stabbed, then returning into view, according to court documents.
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In the video, Henderson was wearing a black Nike hoodie at Great Falls High shortly before the stabbing, according to court documents, and went west into the 1900 block of 2 Alley South, where officers found a black Nike hoodie in a trash can.
Around 1 p.m. Oct. 5, Larson spoke with a witness who’d attended the football game and seen Henderson slap a female, take her phone and take off running.
The witness had also chased Henderson with the stabbing victim.
The witness told investigators he’d seen Henderson reach into a backpack and take out a knife that he estimated to be six to eight inches long with a silver blade. The witness told officers he saw Henderson stab the victim and backed away in fear, according to court documents.
Henderson was charged with assault with a weapon in a July 2024 incident in which he’d allegedly pretended to have a firearm and threatened to shoot people. The charge was dismissed, according to court records.
On Oct. 5, Great Falls Public Schools officials issued an update to Memorial Stadium safety protocols, which included two changes.
Those changes include a designated section for middle school students.
East Middle School will sponsor a middle school section at GFH home football games and only East students are allowed in that section.
North Middle School students who want to attend a GFH game must be accompanied by and sit with their parent or guardian.
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North Middle School will sponsor a middle school section at CMR home football games and only North students are allowed in that section.
Students from East who want to attend a CMR game must be accompanied by and sit with their parents or guardians.
Lance Boyd, GFPS assistant superintendent, told The Electric that middle school officials will be in those sections and know who their respective students are.
In the message to parents on Oct. 5, GFPS officials wrote that middle school officials may request proof of attendance via PowerSchool or an official school identification to be admitted to those sections, as is done for entrance to the high school sections.
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The other change is that post-game field access is now prohibited for families and spectators, “due to ongoing disturbances,” according to the GFPS message, “to ensure student safety and allow for the facility to be cleared immediately following the contest. We are disappointed that we need to implement this process, but ongoing problems throughout this season have made it necessary for safety to become the priority.”
Boyd told The Electric that there have been ongoing safety concerns after football games with spectators allowed on the field because there are too many access points and too few officials to monitor who is present.
He said people who were otherwise barred from school property or football games for various reasons have tried to gain access during that period of time.
That has been an issue in recent years with the increased juvenile gang activity in the community, which included people ages 12 to 25 and older, Boyd said.
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Boyd said that prohibition on students bringing bags or backpacks into the stadium wasn’t new. Adults are asked to use clear bags, subject to search, to carry items into the stadium.
“Students sitting in the grandstands on the west side of the stadium must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and sit near them. Parents are responsible for their child’s behavior at the game. Students who are misbehaving, running around unattended, and/or causing a distraction will be asked to leave the facility,” according to the Oct. 5 GFPS message.
Once a student leaves the stadium, they are not allowed to reenter on either side. Students lingering anywhere outside the stadium will be asked to leave.
The message to parents said that they’ll see an increased police presence at games moving forward.
Boyd told The Electric that, for now, that presence remains the five SROs that the district contracts with the City of Great Falls to provide.
