A 19-year-old student at a vocational school in northern Poland attacked fellow students , teachers and passersby with a sharp object Wednesday (October 7, 2026), injuring eight people before fleeing and being arrested nearby, authorities said.
Authorities did not provide any information about the suspected motive or details about the weapon. The young man was taken to a hospital. Polish media published blurred photos reportedly taken by students that showed bloodstained floors inside the school. School attacks are not common in Poland. However, a stabbing at a Catholic convent in southeastern Poland last month left one person dead and four others wounded. Police detained a suspect.
The attack took place about 11 a.m. local time at the Vocational School Complex No. 4 in Ostroleka, about 120 kilometres northeast of Warsaw, police said. He was arrested on a riverbank less than 1 kilometre (a half mile) from the school after fleeing the scene, according to police.
He was wounded at the time of his arrest in what prosecutors said was a result of “self-mutilation. Two hours after the attack, Ostroleka Mayor Pawel Niewiadomski wrote on social media that the “situation has been brought under control” but that the school would remain closed while authorities investigate the circumstances of the attack. A spokesman for the local firefighters told Polsat television that a suspicious backpack was found in the school and that authorities were investigating its contents.
