A young man armed with a knife killed a teacher and injured four other people in a slovak school. According to police president milan lucansky, the attacker was shot dead by police officers after the crime on thursday.
According to lucansky’s statements on the official facebook page of the slovak police, the perpetrator was a 22-year-old former student of the community school consisting of an elementary school and a grammar school in the small town of vrutky near the czech border.
The perpetrator, who came from the neighboring town of martin, had entered the school building in the morning and initially damaged parts of the facility. When the deputy principal stood in his way, he killed him with several knife wounds. He then stormed into a class and injured a teacher and two children, and finally the school caretaker, who had tried to restrain him. The teacher and one of the children were "in very serious condition" on friday, as a hospital spokeswoman told TV news station TA3.
The police, alerted by an emergency call, were only able to stop the attacker fleeing from the school building by firing several shots. Police bullets ricochet, injuring two policemen. About two hundred meters from the school, the chase ended with the death of the attacker. A team of doctors and psychologists attended to several people at the school who were traumatized by the events. In the evening hundreds of people mourned in front of the school building and lit candles. For friday, classes were canceled.
Guesses were made as to the motive for the attack. The mayor of vrutky contradicted the suspicions of a revenge act in a conversation with journalists. The perpetrator had been a normal and unproblematic student, as confirmed by the school administration.