Former pupil, 15, fatally stabs school worker in Leszczydół-Nowiny, Poland

What happened

On Thursday, 8 October, a 15-year-old who had previously attended the Szkoła Podstawowa im. Jana Pawła II, a primary school in the village of Leszczydół-Nowiny in Wyszków county (powiat wyszkowski) in Mazovia, attacked people at the school with a knife. FAKT24 reports that he stabbed three people and that one of them, a 37-year-old school employee, died. Polsat News reported that he had wounded two other people before he was brought under control, and that one of them died. Accounts differ on how many people he hurt, but the death of the 37-year-old employee is consistent across the reports.

The 15-year-old's case will go to a family court, which will decide his fate. FAKT24 writes that he could be prosecuted for murder as an adult.

The director's account

Krzysztof Ochmański, the school's director, described the struggle to Polsat News. He said that he and the boy began to struggle, that he was holding him, and that he had thought at first the attacker might be a pupil from the school, without fully knowing what he was doing.

We started to struggle. I was holding him. I saw he was not very strong.

As they turned toward one classroom, a teacher opened the door and grabbed the boy so hard that she pulled him out of the director's hands. Ochmański said he then saw the teenager stab her, and that this was the first time he saw there was a knife. Until then he had believed the blade was plastic.

I saw him stab that teacher, and that was the moment I think I first saw there was a knife there.

The teacher got free, and the director told her to run. He picked up a board that was standing nearby and used it as a shield. He had feared her injuries were serious, but he said she had only been scratched.

Disarming the attacker

After the director pushed the boy toward the end of the corridor, the teenager began to act as if he had been cut off from something. He started apologising and said he did not want to do this anymore. Ochmański said he shouted for the boy to put down the knives.

I'll help you, but put the knives down.

The boy complied, though he was still panicked. The director asked him to sit down and take off his helmet, while he kept the board between them. Ochmański said the boy then asked him for help and wanted to be hugged.

Recognising the suspect

Only near the end of the incident did Ochmański realise that he knew the attacker, who was a graduate of the school. He said the boy had been reluctant to attend classes and had adjustments in place for him. In his final year, however, the boy was drawn into school life through trips and by joining the flag guard. The director said the end of eighth grade passed without serious behavioural problems, apart from difficulties with learning.

The victim

Ochmański described the 37-year-old employee as someone who caused no problems at work and was liked by the school community. The director's account of the attack is the main source for the sequence of events, and the family court's decision on the teenager is still pending.