A violent attack at the Eastern College campus in Fredericton sent four people, including the suspect, to hospital Monday morning.
Fredericton Police Chief Leanne Fitch confirms two teachers and a student were injured with a machete-style knife.
She says the injuries range from minor to serious but none are believed to be life-threatening. One teacher is undergoing surgery.
Witnesses tell CTV News they heard screams coming from a classroom inside the college shortly after 8 a.m. Monday.
Tasha Drost, 20, says she was sitting in her criminology class when a fellow student entered with a large knife.
“When he went to James he…was swinging at him and hit James on the head, got him really bad,” she says.
“Then James got up to try and stop him and try to…and then Lynette came around and hollered.”
Student Jonathan Stephenson says it was a “terrifying moment.”
“I heard screaming, turned and looked. There was some banging on the door and then all of a sudden one person opened the door, a girl ran out and panicked and two guys just tumbled out,” says Stephenson.
“One guy had blood all across the left side of his face and it was just scary.”
The school was placed on lockdown and police quickly responded to the scene. Fitch says a student had the man subdued on the floor when police arrived.
“I want to make note of a student, whose name I cannot release at this time, whose intervention was critical in ensuring that a bad situation was not made a lot worse than it was,” says Fitch.
Despite being shaken, Drost and other students cared for the injured before paramedics arrived.
“One of the other classmates went over to her and gave her the sweater to try to stop the bleeding,” says Drost. “So I went over and I tried to help her put pressure on and that’s when I got blood all over me.”
Students were permitted to leave in small numbers, after speaking with police.
The suspect remains in hospital and will be taken into custody after receiving treatment.
Classes were cancelled and the college was closed for the day. It will remain closed on Tuesday and classes will resume on Wednesday.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
