At least six people were injured after a stabbing incident at Foss High School in Tacoma, Washington, Thursday, prompting a massive emergency response as victims were rushed to nearby hospitals.
City officials say four students were transported to the hospital and a security guard is also hospitalized. A suspect was also taken to the hospital, Tacoma Fire Department PIO Chelsea Shepherd told Fox News Digital.
Shepherd said there are four critical injuries, two non-critical, with the sixth person being the suspect.
It is unknown which injuries were the students and the status of the security guard.
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It is currently unknown what was used to stab the victims or if all the injuries are tied to the incident.
Police and first responders swarmed the campus, securing the scene as students and staff were placed on lockdown, FOX 13 Seattle reported.
The school was used as a reunification site for students and their parents.
It remains unknown if the suspect is a student at the school or not.
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A Tacoma Public Schools spokesperson confirmed the school’s response and next steps in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“As a result, school went into a lockdown at 1:38 p.m. Students were safely dismissed at 2:45 p.m. An individual was apprehended and is in police custody,” the statement read. “School and after-school activities were canceled for Friday, May 1. School will be open Monday, May 4. Counselors and additional administrative staff will be on site to support staff and students.”
“We are grateful for the quick, calm action of our staff and our first responders,” the statement concluded, noting that discipline has not yet been determined.
Students described chaotic scenes during the incident, though some accounts could not be independently verified.
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“So basically, this one guy, he took somebody’s vape pen, and they didn’t like that, so they were going to jump him — or they did, I think. And he had a knife, and he shanked four kids and one adult,” a student told FOX 13.
That student said she did not witness the incident firsthand but heard about it from others.
“It’s ghetto. Why are we stealing from people?” she told FOX 13. “And especially, carrying a weapon to school and killing people is crazy, not going to lie.”
Another student described the moment the school went into lockdown and how quickly information spread among students.
“In class we hear, ‘This is a lockdown,’ and everybody’s like, ‘What is going on?’ And then, all of a sudden, I see the video airdropped to my friend’s phone, and we see the whole video happen — the whole fight and stuff — and it was just crazy. It was so bad, there was blood everywhere. And then I heard that, basically, the person who had the knife was — I don’t even know. They said it was some older kid that had already been to jail and stuff, so they came in with a knife. They only fought because over a puff [vape pen].”
The incident remains under investigation, with officials expected to provide updates as more information becomes available.
