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Five people were recovering in the hospital on Friday following a mass stabbing incident at a high school in Washington state.
A high school student was charged with multiple counts of first-degree assault after five people were hurt during the stabbing incident on Thursday at a campus in Tacoma.
Authorities in the city said four of the victims from the incident at Foss high school were taken to hospital in critical condition after being stabbed or cut. Four students and an adult security guard were hurt. The alleged perpetrator received minor wounds, was treated and was taken into custody.
All the victims were in a stable condition on Friday, officials said.
A spokesperson for the Tacoma police department said first responders were called to the school at lunchtime on Thursday after reports of a fight between students. One parent told KIRO news radio that the altercation was over a battery for a vaping device.
“There’s going to be potential loss of life just for a vape battery? That seems so idiotic,” the parent said.
The school was placed on lockdown then evacuated after the incident. Classes and after-school activities were canceled until Monday, when counselors and additional administrative staff will be on campus on “to support staff and students”, according to a statement on the school’s website.
The suspect, a juvenile, was booked into Pierce county jail on five counts of first-degree assault on Thursday, the police spokesperson said. It was not clear if the person was still in custody on Friday morning and details have yet to emerge on the weapon used.
Foss high school students interviewed by Seattle’s Fox 13 news station said cellphone video of the fight was circulated between classmates.
“It was just crazy. It was so bad. There was blood everywhere,” one student said.
A spokesperson for Tacoma public schools said the incident took place at lunchtime, and that students were reunited with parents soon after.
“We are grateful for the quick, calm action of our staff and our first responders,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The News Tribune newspaper reported that Foss high school, which has 557 enrolled students and is about 40 miles (65km) south of Seattle, was the site of a fatal shooting in 2007. A student who was 17 at the time shot and killed a classmate in a crowded hallway. The student was sentenced to a 23-year prison term.
