A 12-YEAR-OLD boy stabbed six of his classmates in a horror knife rampage at his school, leaving one girl fighting for her life.
The boy entered the school wearing a bulletproof vest before randomly stabbing his classmates in a school in Portugal on Thursday.
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One 12-year-old girl was stabbed in the head and chest before being rushed to Santa Maria Hospital in a critical condition, according to local media.
Students with stab wounds to their arms and stomach were taken to Vila Franca de Xira hospital.
A police officer said none of the pupils suffered life-threatening injuries in the attack.
The knife attack was carried out inside Azambuja Elementary School, 31 miles north of Lisbon.
The 12-year-old boy was taken into police custody after he was detained by the GNR.
According to CNN Portugal, the 12-year-old pupil allegedly used a knife from the cafeteria to attack his classmates.
He was later restrained in a classroom.
Azambuja mayor, Silvino Lucio, said the pupil left the school to go home for lunch and on his way back, at 2:00 pm, he came back with a bulletproof vest.
According to the mayor, the actions of a member of staff were crucial in stopping the minor.
Speaking to CNN Portugal, Lucio said: “He entered the school after lunch and started stabbing everyone he saw.”
According to Sic Noticias, a mother of one of the students at the school reported scenes of “panic.”
The parent, who was at the school door waiting for her 10-year-old child at the time of the stabbing, said she saw many children crying and students covered in blood.
It was not immediately clear what provoked the attack.
The boy has not been formally arrested due to his age but remains in police custody.
Local emergency services, including six ambulances, the Azambuja Fire Department, and the National Institute for Medical Emergency (INEM), responded swiftly to the scene.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro condemned the isolated incident.
Taking to X (formally Twitter), he said: “I condemn in the strongest terms the attack that occurred at the school in Azambuja and I wish the injured students a full and speedy recovery.”
The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation issued a statement clarifying that it has already contacted the school’s director “to find out about the situation and continues to monitor the evolution of the injured students’ health status, wishing them a full recovery”.
The statement said: “The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation strongly condemns any act of violence inside or outside a school.”
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, also posted a statement regarding the act of violence to his official website.
The statement said: “The family, like the school, the local community and other institutions essential to our common life cannot be dominated by violence, aggression, the violation of people’s rights, of all people, nor can any violation of these justify violence.
“And we must do everything we can to ensure that behavior such as that experienced today, involving the physical assault of colleagues, a teacher and another school worker, is not repeated.”
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