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Utah high school stabbings: Teachers help subdue attacker, restore calm

Police say several staff members put themselves in harm's way to stop the bloodshed after a student stabbed five of his peers and then himself.

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Dominic Valente/The Daily Herald/AP
Family members embraces after reuniting Mountain View High School where several students were stabbed Tuesday, in Orem, Utah. Police say a 16-year-old boy was taken into custody after the stabbings.
  • By Staff Associated Press

Utah police say a 16-year-old student accused of stabbing five other students inside his high school locker room stabbed himself before he was subdued with a Taser and taken into custody.

Orem Police Chief Gary Giles said Tuesday that school employees boxed the teen into a corner before the first police officer arrived, risking their lives to stop the bloodshed.

He says the injured students suffered wounds to their necks and torso. They are being treated at area hospitals and their conditions range from critical to fair. The suspect was also hospitalized.

School officials say the suspect was a new student, a sophomore who was previously homeschooled.

District spokeswoman Kimberly Bird says he was a straight-A student with no disciple problems.

She says the stabbings happened as the students were preparing for a morning physical education class.

Students at a Utah high school say the stabbings of five teens happened in the boy's locker room of the school.

Junior Karen Martinez says she saw one injured teen running toward the school's office with a head wound and another with a neck wound.

Police say a 16-year-old boy was taken into custody after the stabbings and the victims' conditions range from critical to fair. All of the victims were male.

Sophomore Paxton Ransom says he saw blood on the locker room floor and thought it was fake until he saw a person who had been stabbed on the floor. He ran into the gym's weight room.

Students were allowed to go back to classes or leave with their parents after the hour-long lockdown. Dozens of frightened parents arrived to pick up their kids.

Orem police Lt. Craig Martinez told reporters on Tuesday each victim was stabbed at least once and their conditions range from critical to fair.

Lieutenant Martinez says it isn't yet clear if any of the victims' injuries are life-threatening.

He says the stabbing happened shortly before 8 a.m. in Orem, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Martinez says the teen was taken into custody by a school resource officer. The victims are being treated at local hospitals.

He says the school's other students are safe after the suspect was caught.

The school was put on lockdown for about two hours after the stabbing, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. School officials told Salt Lake City's Fox 13 that the school's normal classes and activities will continue for the remainder of the day, but parents are welcome to pick up their children if they choose to. Counselors and social workers are on hand at the school to assist students and faculty.

Information from: KSL-TV, http://www.ksl.com/

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