Student detained in Slovakia after 2 people fatally stabbed at high school

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — An 18-year-old student fatally stabbed two people at a high school in northern Slovakia on Thursday, authorities said.

One other person was in critical condition, the Slovak rescue service said. The stabbings took place in Spisska Stara Ves, a small town on the border with Poland that has a population of over 2,000 people.

The suspect initially fled, but police said that he was detained shortly after the attack.

Police said that the suspect attacked a teacher and two students. Further details weren't immediately available.

A 51-year-old deputy principal of the high school and a 18-year old student, both female, were killed, the rescue service said.

President Peter Pellegrini called the attack “a real tragedy” and offered condolences along with Prime Minister Robert Fico to the relatives.

“No problem in the world can be solved with a knife or any other weapon,” Pellegrini said.

Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok and Education Minister Tomáš Drucker traveled to the town.

Drucker said that he would work to take steps to prevent such attacks in the future and protect students and teachers.

Such attacks are rare in Slovakia. In 2020, a 22-year-old former student attacked a high school in the town of Vrutky, killing the deputy principal and wounding five people, including two students. In 2022, a high school student attacked and injured a female pupil at a high school in Novaky.

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The story is corrected to say the population of the town is over 2,000, not 17,000.