A male student stabbed and wounded four people on Wednesday on a university campus in north-central California before being shot dead, campus police said.
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He says the suspect turned to his son and stabbed him in the side.
UC Merced officials did not release the identity of the suspect or the victims. University police shot the assailant who died at the scene.
John Price’s son, Byron, is a construction worker who was working on the UC Merced campus when he heard what he thought was a fight and ran into a classroom. The victims include two students, one staff member and one contractor. The school first said all of the victims were students, but later said that not all of them were students.
The campus remains on precautionary lockdown as this incident is investigated and will continue to be closed through tomorrow (Thursday).
The school initially reported five people were stabbed, but later said the figure was four, said Lorena Anderson, a school spokeswoman.
Police received reports of a stabbing around 8:02 a.m.in the Classroom and Office Building on campus, referred to by students as COB.
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Anderson said the crime scene included inside the building, “the whole center of campus”, and a pedestrian bridge connecting the school to its lower half where there’s food and parking. She said the student “was crying hysterically and came in and said that she had seen somebody get stabbed, or slashed, in the throat and she ran”.
“Just to see something like that happen, it could have been me”, she said.
Student Alex Lopez, 21, told Fox News about the moment he heard the saga’s dramatic end.
Among the injured were two students and one staff member, the university said Wednesday afternoon.
According to the university’s Twitter account, two of the victims were taken by helicopter to hospitals for treatment, while the three other victims were treated locally.
A school spokesperson said: “I can tell you that we’re really shocked and saddened by this”.
The rural school has about 6,685 enrolled students.
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This item has been corrected to show that the last name of a UC Merced assistant vice chancellor is Waid, not Wald.
