A student carrying two hidden knives slashed five classmates Wednesday morning as they watched a videotape in Spanish class, authorities said.
Eight students at Valparaiso High School were taken to the hospital, including the accused attacker, identified as a 15-year-old freshman, police Chief Michael Brickner said. All but one of those injured were released by Wednesday afternoon, he said. Five suffered cuts, and the others complained of pain from other injuries, authorities said.
Authorities released no information about a possible motive for the attack, which happened as classes were starting about 8 a.m. at the school about 20 miles southeast of Gary.
Students described a struggle in a hallway and said they saw blood on the floor.
“The kid, after he stabbed them, he ran out of the room, and a bunch of teachers tackled him,” said Clark Hogan, a sophomore. “I saw the lady kick the knife down the hallway. She kicked it against the wall.”
Brickner said that one of the knives was a machete and that the other was a serrated knife. The youth accused in the attack remained in custody.
School Superintendent Michael Benway said that the school did not have metal detectors but that school staffers and volunteers monitored the two doors through which the school’s 2,000 students entered the building.
Brickner said that when police officers arrived, school administrators were holding the suspect, an A-B student who started in the Valparaiso school system this year.
The uninjured students were allowed to leave school about 3½ hours after the attack. Until then, they said, they were kept locked in their classrooms.
“The teachers wouldn’t tell us what was going on,” said one of the students, Danielle Boer. “We were scared.”
Jeni Bell, a spokeswoman for Porter Memorial Hospital, said that some students suffered severe cuts and that one suffered a hip injury. She said the injuries were not life-threatening.
