Student arrested after 8 stabbed at Canadian school

Students look on as members of the media interview a police officer outside Dunbarton High School following a stabbing incident at the school in Pickering, Ontario, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. A female high school student is in custody after at least eight people were stabbed at the high school east of Toronto, police said Tuesday. SALVATORE SACCO/THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP

PICKERING, Ontario — A 14-year-old female high school student is in custody after eight people were stabbed at a high school east of Toronto, police said Tuesday. All the injuries are minor.

Durham Regional Police Sgt. Bill Calder said officers were called to Dunbarton High School in Pickering, Ontario, Tuesday morning after a report about a female waving a knife around. He said six students and two staff members sustained minor injuries. Calder said four people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Students described running from a girl brandishing two kitchen knives careening down the hallways of the school.

Kristina Petrovska, 14, said she came face-to-face with the suspect, who slashed the knives at her.

“I just ran for my life,” the girl said. “I just can’t believe it happened. She almost got me.”

Another student, Stephen Pim, said he saw a girl with a long black coat chasing students in the hall waving a knife in each hand.

“I heard the teachers say ‘clear the halls’ so I started to run outside informing people that there’s a student with a knife, you need to get to safety,” the 16-year-old said in a text message as he sat in a locked classroom inside the school.

Police have not released the name of the female student taken into custody.

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“There are different areas of the school where the assaults took place,” Calder said. “It seems to be a random attack.”

Two staff members tackled the student and held her until police arrived, he said.

Calder said charges are pending, but would not comment specifically on which ones she might face.

The school remains in lockdown as police continue to investigate, Calder said.

Violence at schools is rare in Canada. However, a 17-year-old shot and killed four people at a school and home in an aboriginal community in Saskatchewan last month. The school in La Loche, Saskatchewan, reopened Tuesday.

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