Five students and a security guard were injured in a stabbing on Thursday afternoon at a high school in Tacoma, Wash., an incident the authorities said arose from an “altercation.”
The authorities responded just after 1:30 p.m. to a report of an “active assault” at Foss High School, the Tacoma Fire Department said in a statement.
Four students were hospitalized with “reported stab wounds,” according to Chelsea Sheperd, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department.
Officer Shelbie Boyd, a spokeswoman for the Tacoma Police Department, said that a security guard and another student, whom she described as a “suspect,” were also injured and hospitalized. The suspect was taken into custody and charged with five counts of first-degree assault, she added.
All of those injured were in stable condition as of 4 p.m. local time, the Fire Department said.
Officer Boyd said the stabbing had happened on the school’s campus, but she did not specify whether it took place inside or outside the building.
Firefighters arrived to find one injured person outside the school and then went in to treat other people who were injured, Ms. Sheperd said.
MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital and MultiCare Allenmore Hospital received patients related to the stabbing, according to Scott Thompson, a spokesman for Multicare. Mr. Thompson declined to comment on the conditions of those patients.
A spokeswoman for Foss High School said that the school was in lockdown and that parents would have received a notification if their child was involved in the episode.
Parents were able to come to the school to pick up their children, Ms. Sheperd said. Students were dismissed at 2:45 p.m., and school on Friday was canceled, the Tacoma Police Department said in a statement.
Tacoma Public Schools did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In January 2007, 17-year-old student, Samnang Kok, was shot and killed in a hallway at Foss High School. Another student, Douglas Chanthabouly, who was 18 at the time, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
