US student killed after denying prom date

A US student has been stabbed to death at a high school in Connecticut after she reportedly rejected the suspect's request to take her to prom, according to local media reports.

The incident happened in a hallway at a high school before school started on Friday morning, the New Haven Register reported.

Police Chief Keith Mello said the victim, who was identified by school officials as Maren Sanchez, 16, was stabbed in the neck.

Sanchez died about a half hour later at a hospital, according to the newspaper.

An unidentified student, also 16, was taken into custody by staff members moments after the incident, Mello said.

Skye Gero, a student at the school, told the newspaper the suspect on Thursday asked Sanchez to go to the prom with him and she said no.

Police however did not confirm that.

The prom, which was to have taken place on Friday night, was postponed.

The stabbing in Connecticut comes about two weeks after a high school student wielding two long knives went on a rampage at a school in western Pennsylvania.

Twenty students were stabbed in that attack.