13-year-old pupil stabs teacher and classmate in Bistrița: school was part of Romanian Intelligence Service anti-radicalisation programme
A 13-year-old pupil attacked with a knife a mathematics teacher and a younger classmate at a school in Bistrița. The institution was participating in a Romanian Intelligence Service programme for preventing radicalisation.
Attack at Bistrița school: new details about attacker and link to Romanian Intelligence Service programme
ProTV News reports that a 13-year-old pupil stabbed a mathematics teacher and a classmate one year his junior on Monday at a school in Bistrița. The attacker is said to have announced his intentions on a social network before the attack, and several classmates are believed to have known what was going to happen, according to investigators.
The boy did not attend his first lesson, instead hiding in the school toilet, where he is said to have prepared for the attack. He then knocked on the door of a sixth-form classroom; when the teacher came out, he attacked her with a knife. Another pupil who intervened was also injured. The teacher was operated on and remains hospitalised, whilst the injured pupil was allowed to go home. Both are described as being in a good condition at present.
The attacker is hospitalised at the Paediatric Psychiatry Clinic in Cluj, where he is under medical supervision. Hospital representatives stated that an evaluation is underway and will take several days, after which doctors will be able to formulate a diagnosis. Investigators have not yet been able to speak with the boy to establish the reason for the attack.
Police are due to question, in the presence of parents and a social worker, all children in the suspect's circle. Investigators do not rule out that the pupil entered an online group that may have contributed to his radicalisation, but are also considering the possibility that the attack was a response to a challenge on social media platforms.
A police officer who had delivered a bullying-prevention course in the boy's actual class at the end of the previous school year stated that the boy had drawn his attention at that time: he was extremely quiet and withdrawn. The officer says he spoke with the boy's form tutor, who assured him that there were no problems.
The Bistrița school was part in the previous year of the Previzio programme, a project implemented by the Romanian Intelligence Service aimed at preventing radicalisation and violent extremism in the pre-university education sector. According to the School Inspectorate in Bistrița, the actions carried out within the programme should have contributed to preventing such cases.
Sorin Costreie, the proposed minister of education, stated that he would request data from the Romanian Intelligence Service and other sources to understand what happened. "We are talking about radicalisation; I understand that he posted a video beforehand on TikTok. There were warning signs and we need to see exactly why certain measures were not taken," said Costreie. He added that if necessary, the possibility of physical checks at school entrances will be analysed, similar to procedures at airports, to prevent the introduction of bladed weapons. "The major problem is to prepare our children to navigate these social networks as well," the proposed minister added.
Source: Știrile ProTV