Reuters reported on October 8 that a 15-year-old Polish student, wearing a camera, killed an employee at the elementary school where he had studied, and injured two other people. This is the second knife attack on campus in Poland in two days. It is reported that these incidents may be related to an online challenge.
Polish police revealed that the attack occurred in Leszczykowo-Nowe, northeast of Warsaw, around 9 a.m., resulting in the death of a 37-year-old school worker.
And just the day before, another 19-year-old male in northeast Poland injured 10 people at a school, including himself; police have detained a 17-year-old boy in central-north Poland, suspected of planning the attack.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at an emergency meeting held on the 8th, "We are worried about the possibility of terrifying imitation. We are facing an unusual situation... For the first time, we are dealing with a perpetrator who wears a camera and intends to capture the process of the knife attack." He ordered the police to patrol schools daily in an effort to prevent more violent incidents.
A police spokesman revealed that the information available to the authorities indicates that these incidents may be related to a cyber challenge, and the authorities are investigating.
Nicholas, 18 years old, has a younger brother attending this school. She said she'd heard rumors circulating online about "challenges."
She said, “I mean, I don’t even know if this is true or not, because it sounds too unreal, too terrifying… like some kind of challenge aimed at killing as many people as possible.”
Tusk praised the heroic actions of two faculty members in this incident, who were injured while trying to stop the attackers.
Principal Krzysztof Ochmanowski was one of them. After hearing a scream, he rushed into the corridor. Ochmanowski told the public broadcasting station Radio Polska (RDC): “The suspect had three knives with him. He stabbed me with the blade of one of the knives. When he tried to attack me with the knife handle, I managed to subdue him.”
Polish National Police Chief of Communications, Inspector Katarzyna Nowak, said that in all of Europe, criminals are becoming younger. She told the Polish television channel TVP Info: "In the past few months, in Poland, we have seen teenagers arrested for preparing attacks... So, this is indeed a problem we face and one that we must acknowledge."
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kirwicki said that the 17-year-old boy detained in Sielpce mentioned plans to do ‘dangerous things’ on campus.
Kilwinski said: "Data recovered from electronic devices shows that he searched the internet to find ways to plan such violent incidents." The police found two knives on him.
