Five Utah students stabbed in locker room, teen detained

OREM, Utah — As a group of boys at a Utah high school changed Tuesday morning into gym clothes for physical education class, a straight-A student pulled out a knife in the locker room and stabbed five of his classmates, sending the injured running for their lives and covered in blood, police said.

The 16-year-old suspect with no record of disciplinary trouble also stabbed himself in the neck and was cornered by school workers until a police officer assigned to Mountain View High School got to the locker room and subdued him with a Taser shot.

The five victims are all expected to survive, hospital officials said Tuesday afternoon. The two most seriously injured were in critical but stable condition, according to Utah Valley Hospital.

The suspect was treated and released following the attack that spread fear and panic among students who described a gruesome scene.

Police said the knife used in the attack had a 3-inch blade but they did not identify the suspect who remained in custody by name because of his age.

School district spokeswoman Kimberly Bird said the suspect was a new sophomore student who was previously homeschooled. There were no indications he was having problems or being bullied, she said.

Investigators are talking to students who witnessed the attack and who knew the suspect as they try to determine a motive, said Gary Giles, the police chief in the city of Orem about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City where the attack happened.

The school, which has 1,300 students, was put on lockdown after the stabbings for about an hour until police determined there was no danger for students. Some parents took their children home and others allowed them to finish the school day.