Philadelphia police have arrested a middle school student after he stabbed two teaching assistants with a knife hidden in his bag.

The 11-year-old, who attended Castor Gardens Middle School, allegedly stabbed a 63-year-old woman in the stomach and a 31-year-old woman in the arm, according to reports.

According to Fox29, he took the knife out of his bag during class and then injured the two teaching assistants who tried to stop him from hurting others.

The older victim was rushed to hospital for treatment and both victims are expected to make a full recovery. The student, who is said to have developmental issues, was arrested and had his gun removed.

Castor Gardens, a public middle school that has been open since 1998, has metal detectors, but they were unable to stop the student from bringing a gun onto school grounds.

According to seventh grader Nathan Cancel, school security is lacking as he told Fox29, “The security at the school, they have metal detectors and the metal detectors go off and people don’t check the bags of the kids that go through the metal detectors.”

In response, Monique Braxton, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia school district, told 6abc, “There is a metal detector here. Why didn’t he pick up the knife and alert the school security officer and climate managers who were nearby? I don’t know, the school safety office is currently investigating this metal detector.

Newsweek has reached out to the school district for comment via email.

Parents rushed to the scene after receiving a message that there was an active threat in the school and found that the building was locked down for an hour and a half after the incident took place.

After the lockdown was lifted, parents and guardians were reunited with their children. Although no children were injured, some loved ones initially feared the worst.

A grandfather of a child who attends the school told Fox29: “They come here and there’s police, ambulances. What should I think? It is a possibility that it could have been him. It’s the last thing you want to think about.”

Initial reporting suggested the student may have mental health issues, with Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore telling Fox29, “It’s our understanding, it’s very preliminary, the child had some developmental issues, so I’m not sure how we will proceed in this regard. point.”

When reached for comment, a Philadelphia police spokesman said Newsweek: “We will defer your questions to be answered by the School District of Philadelphia… We have no further information as updates are received, they will be shared.”

Braxton also told 6abc: “I think in this case we have to give this young man some grace. He is a minor. As the police told us, he has some special needs, special circumstances.

“The good thing about all of this is that both employees suffered non-life threatening injuries and will be fine. Everyone was horrified, including the student who had the knife.”

The city of Philadelphia is the ninth most dangerous city ​​in the US Although the number of homicide victims has decreased by 19 percent between 2022 and 2023, the city still has a higher homicide rate than before the pandemic, with 256 victims in 2019 and 328 victims in 2023.

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