19‑year‑old student injures eight in Ostroleka vocational school stabbing

What Happened

A 19‑year‑old student attacked people at Ostroleka’s Vocational School Complex No 4, wounding eight. The stabbing occurred at about 11 a.m. on 7 October 2026, roughly 120 km northeast of Warsaw. Four students, two teachers and two passersby were injured; one victim was seriously hurt and taken by helicopter to a hospital. The suspect, identified only as Jakub Z. under Polish privacy law, fled and was caught on a riverbank less than one kilometre from the school. Police said he was wounded during arrest in what prosecutors called self‑inflicted injury and was taken to hospital.

Reaction

Prosecutor’s spokesperson Elzbieta Edyta Lukasiewicz told PAP that none of the injuries were life‑threatening. A police post on X showed an officer with a hand on a tied‑up person, the face pixelated. Students captured blurred images of blood‑stained floors inside the school. Mayor Pawel Niewiadomski announced that the situation was under control, the school would stay closed, and psychological support would be provided to those affected. He also ordered all regional schools to bar unknown persons from entering. A fire brigade spokesman said a suspicious backpack was found and its contents are being examined.

Context

School attacks are rare in Poland; the country saw a convent stabbing a month earlier that left one dead and four wounded.