VANCOUVER -- Police in Delta, B.C., say a young person was stabbed and taken to hospital Tuesday after an altercation outside a high school.
The incident happened outside Burnsview Secondary as classes were being let out, according to police.
“This does appear to be an isolated situation that involved a conflict between two students that did unfortunately escalate to violence,” said Cris Leykauf, spokesperson for the Delta Police Department.
Police added it's too early to say what led to the altercation.
The victim has since been released from hospital and is now back with their family.
A suspect was arrested and a search turned up a knife that’s believed to have been used in the assault, Leykauf said.
The suspect has been released from custody and has a condition not to go back to Burnsview Secondary.
“Obviously, anytime you have a matter such as this, where someone chooses to resort to violence, we do treat it extremely seriously," Leykauf said. "But we also ... want to respect the young ages of those involved in this incident."
The suspect is not known to police and doesn’t appear to have any ties to the ongoing Lower Mainland Gang conflict.
The Delta School District said student safety is its top priority and it does not tolerate any form of violence.
“Delta School District is shocked and saddened by the situation that occurred at Burnsview Secondary yesterday,” it said in a statement. “The district will be investigating the incident fully and taking steps to discipline those involved as we learn more from the police investigation."
The district is offering counselling support staff to those who have been impacted by the incident.
Violent school incidents rare
This incident comes days after multiple teens were arrested in connection with separate violent incidents in Mission.
Video of one incident circulated on social media, showing two people kicking and punching a victim while a crowd looked on and laughed.
“it's just it's sad to see,” said Randy Wallace with Safer Schools Together, a group that provides training on threat assessment and bullying prevention.
“We work very closely when there are worrisome behavior and threat-making situations, we work very closely to try to intervene and prevent anything (from happening)."
He said there are anonymous reporting tools and resources, such as Erase, which have been successful in tipping off officials when an incident is about to happen.
But in these three assaults, there were no reports prior to the attacks.
Wallace said he isn’t sure why there has been a rise in targeted incidents in schools recently. It will now be up to police to determine what triggered the assaults.
Anyone who witnessed the Burnsview Secondary incident or has video or photos is asked to contact the non-emergency line at 604-946-4411.
