Female student injured with knife at secondary school in Slovenia

A male student injured a female student with a knife during lessons at a secondary school in Murska Sobota, Slovenia.

An incident briefly locked down the school and prompted a police investigation. The 15-year-old suspect has been detained, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

The incident occurred at the Murska Sobota Medical Secondary School. The suspect is a first-year student, while the injured girl is in her fourth and final year at the same school.

Officers and criminal investigators were dispatched to the scene as soon as they were informed about the incident in the morning, secured the school premises and began collecting evidence.

The suspect was located in the vicinity of the school and taken into custody.

Head teacher Zlatka Lebar (left) and head of the criminal police at the Murska Sobota Police Department Bojan Rous (right) speak to the press after the incident. Photo: Murska Sobota Police Department.

"The minor was apprehended quickly and will remain in detention for up to 48 hours," Bojan Rous, head of the criminal police sector at the Murska Sobota Police Department, told reporters.

He said investigators were treating the case as suspected public endangerment and bodily harm. The motive for the attack and any prior connection between the two students remain unknown.

The injured student sustained light knife wounds to her back and face, according to multiple media reports, and was taken to hospital for observation. Her injuries were not described as life-threatening.

School head teacher Zlatka Lebar said staff detected the incident promptly and activated safety protocols. Students remained locked in their classrooms while police intervened, and all procedures were followed as planned.

She added that the two students had not previously been in conflict and that the suspect had no known history of violent behaviour.

Police have not disclosed further details, citing the protection of personal data, the fact that the suspect is a minor, and the need to safeguard the victim.

Violence on the rise

Such attacks in schools are not common in Slovenia, and the country has never had a mass school casualty event, but violence has been on the rise and there is growing concern about youths' violent behaviour.

While most cases involve peer-to-peer violence rather than serious physical attacks, there was a case in 2021 when Slovenian police prevented a school shooting when US law enforcement alerted them to a person trying to buy weapons on the dark web to carry out a school shooting.

There have also been multiple reports over the years of students bringing knives into class, though none of them resulted in injuries. False bomb alarms are common as well.

While reliable statistics about violent incidents in schools do not exist, all these developments have drawn growing attention from the public and professionals in recent years with studies showing that as many as one in three children has experienced some form of peer violence.

In response, the government last year established a task force to address dangerous and violent behaviour among young people. The group has proposed a more coordinated approach, including the possible creation of an emergency support service to provide immediate help to at-risk children and their families.

Boštjan Podlogar/STA