More victims, bloodshed were intended in sword attack at Brandon high school: police
'The response of our officers prevented further bloodshed,' Brandon police chief says
WARNING | This story contains graphic details.
A 16-year-old boy accused of seriously injuring another student with a sword at Brandon's Neelin High School had plans for more victims but was stopped by the swift actions of officials and officers, the southwestern Manitoba city's police chief says.
A 15-year-old boy is in stable condition in hospital, recovering from stab wounds to the chest, forearms, hands and thigh, police have said.
"We know that certainly the harms that were intended were beyond the individual victim involved," Chief Tyler Bates said at a news conference on Wednesday.
"We do believe that those intentions were interrupted — that the response of our officers prevented further bloodshed."
Bates wouldn't go into further details about what exactly happened Tuesday afternoon.
"The finer details will come to light in due course," he said.
The teen accused and the victim are both students at the school and knew one another, he said. The motivation behind the attack, though, is still under investigation, Bates said.
Police were called at 1:15 p.m. and by 1:22 p.m. the 16-year-old was in custody. Officers used a stun gun to subdue and disarm him.
"In the face of mortal danger, our Brandon Police Service officers demonstrated exceptional bravery, professionalism and restraint. They ran towards the threat, risking their own safety with both composure and care," Bates said.
That composure resulted in the outcome being far less tragic than it could have been if officers chose instead to use their firearms, he said.
"Use-of-force situations are dynamic, they're chaotic, and they require split-second decision-making under immense stress."
Bates said officers were responding to what they were told was someone armed with a sword and "going crazy."
It was an incident involving someone not only presenting a lethal threat, but who had already attempted to take someone's life, he said.
"The presence of mind of our officers … in this particular situation to incapacitate the offender is really quite remarkable."
The 16-year-old faces charges of attempted murder, uttering threats, possession of a weapon and wearing a disguise.
Bates doesn't know if the teen had any prior dealings with police. The school resource officer, who is well-acquainted with the students, did not have prior dealings with him, he said.
No information was given about the disguise or whether police believe the teen was under the influence of anything at the time.
"At this juncture of the investigation, there's no indication that we're talking about altered states or a situation where drugs were specifically involved," he said.
Support for students
Parent Ingrid Pulleyblank says hearing that her Grade 10 teen was in lockdown, and another student was seriously injured, was frightening.
She helped decorate the sidewalks around the school with messages like "all you need is love" and "peace to all," to show support for the injured boy and students traumatized by the violent attack.
"I think we're just trying to, like, process how to feel and how to navigate this and how to support those who are affected more," she told CBC News.
Brandon School Division superintendent Mathew Gustafson says the fact there could have been more people hurt in the incident will have an impact on Neelin students and staff, and a "rippling" effect on other schools in the area.
The attack reinforces the planning and preparation that the division has done — including over two decades of lockdown procedures — in response to other incidents of school attacks around the world.
"That is a grave concern for us, but that is why we take the steps that we have," he told host Faith Fundal in a Wednesday interview with CBC Radio's Up to Speed.
"This just creates a greater importance of school safety, and not just in terms of procedures that you use to react — it's also about the climate and culture of the building, ensuring that students feel part of the school, and making sure that there are trusted adults that they can go to."
The division will examine the security response to the attack before deciding on next steps, but Gustafson said its main focus has been supporting the victim and his family, along with students, staff and their families.
A crisis response team is in place and will offer support as long as needed, he said.
Provincial exams also were cancelled, since they would only create more stress for students and would no longer be "a valid assessment," said Gustafson.
"Realizing that students would not have been in a place to be able to write that just made the most sense."
'Deranged'
As for questions of mental health concerns, "clearly the actions are deranged," said Chief Bates.
He asked for patience and understanding as witness interviews are ongoing and details continue to emerge.
"It's such an aberrant act of violence that is so atypical within the community of Brandon. This is not something that we deal with, fortunately, on a regular basis," he said.
"So we need to understand and know why and dissect what contributed to this so we can prevent future incidents of this nature."
He urged anyone struggling in the wake of the incident to reach out to mental health resources at the school or health-care providers and other organizations within the community.
"We understand the deep emotional toll that this event has taken on the entire school community. Traumatic events like this affect everybody and have a ripple effect — students, families, teachers, the broader public, emergency responders," Bates said.
"There's much recovery that needs to take place in the aftermath of this tragedy. A school should always be a place of safety, a place to learn, grow and thrive. Tragically, yesterday, one of our schools … became a scene of trauma and danger."
The school was immediately put into lockdown when school staff realized what was happening. That was lifted once the accused attacker was in custody.
"The actions taken were not by chance on this day, but the result of preparation, care and a commitment to student safety," Bates said, praising school staff and officers.
"On this day we were prepared. The response was seamless and it's because of that practice and relationship that has been pre-established and built with Brandon School Division."
School resource officers get ARTO (assessment of risk to others) and VTRA (violence threat risk assessment) training from the police service.
That training and relationship "speaks to the recognition of potential harm and risk in that environment," Bates said.
"How we're presently responsive to that is something that is always under discussion — should we be looking at how we can mitigate risks and events such as this? How do we make the schools as safe as they can possibly be?"
That has resulted in the specialized training now in place and the presence of school resource officers.
"I think we would be remiss if we didn't continually look at other potential enhancements to school safety," Bates said.
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With files from Chelsea Kemp and Djeneba Dosso