Poland's second school knife attack in two days kills one, raises copycat fears

A 15-year-old former pupil wearing a helmet-mounted camera killed one employee and injured two others at a Polish primary school on Thursday, the second school stabbing in two days possibly linked to an internet challenge, authorities said. A 37-year-old ‌woman who worked as a caretaker had died in the latest attack, which took place at around 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw, officials said.

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old wounded 10 people including himself at another school in Ostroleka, northeastern Poland, and police detained a 17-year-old in Sierpc in north-central Poland on suspicion of planning an attack. "We fear a grim copycat ‌phenomenon," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told an emergency meeting.

"We are facing an extraordinary situation... for the first time, we are dealing with a killer who wore a ‌helmet-mounted camera, intending to film the knife attack." It was not clear whether the attack was actually filmed.

He ordered police to visit schools daily in an effort to prevent further violence. A police spokesperson said authorities had information that the incidents could be related to an internet challenge and that this was being investigated.

Nikola, the 18-year-old sister of a boy at the school, said that rumours about a challenge were circulating online. "I mean, I ⁠didn't know ​if it was even real - I still ⁠don't know if it's true, actually - because it sounds so unreal, so terrifying, just like something out of a movie: some kind of challenge to kill as many people as possible," she said.

She said the shock ⁠caused by the attack had left her "shaking all over". TEACHERS INJURED RESTRAINING ATTACKER

Tusk praised the heroism of two teachers at the school who were injured as they tried to stop the attacker. Head ​teacher Krzysztof Ochmanski said he had heard a scream and ran into the corridor.

"He wounded me with the blade of a rather long knife - he had three ⁠knives on him - and hit me with the handle," he told the public broadcaster Polskie Radio RDC. "By then, I had managed to restrain him." A Reuters reporter saw an air ambulance flying away from the school, where a ⁠small ​crowd had gathered. The father of one child, waiting outside the school, said pupils had not yet been allowed to leave, but were safe.

Footage on public news broadcaster TVP Info showed what appeared to be the attacker being handcuffed and put into a police van. Inspector Katarzyna Nowak, director of communications for national police, said serious offenders were becoming ⁠younger across Europe.

"Over the past few months in Poland, we have seen arrests of teenagers who were preparing to carry out attacks ... So, this is indeed a problem we ⁠face, and one we must acknowledge," she told TVP ⁠Info. Interior minister Marcin Kierwinski said that the 17-year-old detained in Sierpc had mentioned plans to do "something dangerous" on school grounds.

"Data recovered from electronic devices revealed online searches regarding how to orchestrate such a violent event," Kierwinski said. Police found two knives in his ‌possession.