Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A 19-year-old student at a vocational school in northern Poland attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object on Wednesday, injuring eight people before fleeing and being arrested nearby, authorities said.
Police said the attack took place at around 11 am local time at Vocational School Complex No. 4 in Ostroleka, about 120 kilometres northeast of Warsaw. Authorities did not give any information on a possible motive or details of the weapon used.
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Elzbieta Edyta Lukasiewicz, a spokesperson for prosecutors, told Polish news agency PAP that four students, two teachers and two passersby were injured. None of the injuries was life-threatening, though one person was seriously wounded. Some of the injured were flown by helicopter to hospital, she said.
Authorities identified the suspect only as Jakub Z., in line with Polish privacy laws. Police said he was arrested on a riverbank less than 1 kilometre from the school after he fled the scene. Prosecutors said he was wounded at the time of his arrest as a result of “self-mutilation”. He was taken to hospital.
Police in Mazovia province, which includes Ostroleka and Warsaw, posted a photo on X showing an officer with a hand on the back of a person lying on the ground with hands tied behind the back. The person’s face and hands were pixelated. Polish media also published blurred photos, reportedly taken by students, showing bloodstained floors inside the school.
About two hours after the attack, Ostroleka Mayor Pawel Niewiadomski wrote on social media that the “situation has been brought under control”. He said the school would remain closed while authorities investigated the circumstances of the attack. He also said children and others affected would receive psychological support and that he had asked all schools in the region to stop unknown people from entering their premises.
A spokesman for the local fire service told Polsat television that a suspicious backpack had been found in the school and that authorities were checking its contents. School attacks are not common in Poland, but last month a stabbing at a Catholic convent in southeastern Poland left one person dead and four others injured, with police detaining a suspect.
The attack in Ostroleka left eight people injured, led to the suspect’s arrest near the school, and prompted a wider security response as authorities continued their investigation.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
