Student Stabs Teacher and Two Classmates at Missouri Middle School
A student stabbed a teacher and two classmates inside a classroom at a middle school in Warrenton, Missouri, on Thursday morning, leaving two of the victims in a serious condition.
The attack happened at about 7:55 a.m. local time during the first hour of classes at Black Hawk Middle School, according to the Warrenton Police Department. Police said a male student used a blade of four to five inches long. A juvenile suspect was arrested nearby shortly afterwards and is in custody. Police have released no information about the suspect, and have said there is no ongoing threat to the public.
One student was flown by helicopter to a children’s hospital in St. Louis, and the teacher was taken to hospital by ambulance. Both were in a serious condition when they were transported. A second student suffered superficial wounds, including a cut to the hand. The district superintendent said that student was his son.
The motive for the attack is not known. Police said there had been no threats before the incident.
Attack in the first hour of classes
Warren County R-III School District Superintendent Gregg Klinginsmith said the stabbing happened during the first hour of classes at Black Hawk Middle School, off Highway 47. The school has an enrolment of nearly 700 pupils in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
Warrenton, a town of about 9,600 people, sits roughly 55 miles west of St. Louis.
The school went into lockdown within minutes of the attack, and parents were directed to a reunification point to collect their children. Police said all classrooms had been cleared by 10:41 a.m.
KJLU reported that the Warren County Ambulance District treated three patients at the scene. One was flown to a trauma centre and another was taken to a trauma centre by ambulance, both in a serious condition. The third was treated and released at the scene.
Two victims in serious condition
By early afternoon, police said the student taken to the children’s hospital was stable, and the teacher had been discharged from hospital before 2 p.m.
The Columbia Missourian reported that one of the students was evacuated by helicopter, while the second student suffered what police described as superficial wounds.
The names of the victims have not been released. Because the suspect is a juvenile, police have not released the suspect’s name or age, and no charges have been publicly announced. It is not yet known whether the case will be handled in juvenile court.
Lockdown, early dismissal and questions over security
The district dismissed all Warren County R-III schools early on Thursday, at about 12:41 p.m., and cancelled all Black Hawk Middle School sports for the day. Classes are due to resume on Friday, with counselling available for pupils and families.
Klinginsmith confirmed the school does not have metal detectors, a detail that is likely to sharpen questions about how a knife was brought into the building and what, if anything, could have stopped the attack.
The district had requested behaviour threat assessment training last spring, and it was not clear on Thursday whether that training had been completed or was still being arranged.
What happens next
Police and school officials are still investigating how the attack unfolded and what led up to it. Officers remained at the school through Thursday as the investigation continued.
The stabbing follows other recent violent incidents reported by NationWire, including a shooting in Washington’s Logan Circle in which five people were shot near the White House, an escaped Tennessee murderer was captured in Missouri after a nine-day manhunt, and a shooting at a Cook Out restaurant in Spartanburg that killed two teenagers.
For Warrenton, a small town where the middle school sits at the heart of the community, Thursday began as an ordinary school morning and ended with parents collecting frightened children, a hospital vigil for two of the victims, and a school district facing difficult questions about safety.
