Student in custody after eight people stabbed at Pickering high school
Posted Feb 23, 2016 04:16:41 PM.
Last Updated Feb 23, 2016 04:20:22 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A lockdown has been lifted after eight people, six of them students, were stabbed at a Pickering high school.
Emergency crews were called to Dunbarton High School at 8:32 a.m. on Tuesday.
A 14-year-old female student was taken into custody, Durham regional police said. Police won’t confirm the age of the suspect, but students told CityNews she’s in Grade 9. Students also said she had two large steak knives. There was no known motive for the attack.
After the girl was taken into custody, Sgt. Bill Calder praised the quick action of teachers and staff.
“Two of the people injured were staff members. Those two staff members were actually able to stop the attack from happening,” he said.
Calder said the two staff members wrestled the suspect to the ground and held her down until police arrived.
Calder said only four of the people injured were taken to hospital. All of the injuries are minor.
Police say they don’t believe any particular student or staff member was targeted.
The incidents took place in different locations across the school.
Zakyr Rhemtulla, a Grade 9 student at Dunbarton, says he was faced with chaos from the moment he arrived at school this morning.
He says as soon as he opened the front door, he saw students running in all directions.
“I’m like ‘oh, what’s happening,”’ he said in a telephone interview. “So I just kept on walking and some teacher told me, ‘oh, come into this room.’ So I ran into the room. They locked the door, closed the curtains, turned the lights off.”
Rhemtulla and a few other students remained in the classroom while the school was in lockdown and police combed the property for evidence.
He said the initial shock of the situation eased up as students monitored social media and learned that no one appeared to be in danger.
“Students are calm, I guess,” he said. “…Police are gone, kids are just joking around.”
Calder said charges are pending, but would not comment specifically on which ones she might face.
The lockdown was lifted at 10:22 a.m., the school said on its website. The Durham District School Board said support and counselling are available for students. Families that wish to pick up their students are asked to go to the South Campus on Dunfair Avenue and not to the main entrance.
Clarification: All of the injuries are minor. Police had earlier said one person’s injuries were serious but not life-threatening.
