A 15-year-old boy armed with a knife and wearing a helmet-mounted camera allegedly attacked his former Polish primary school, killing an employee and injuring two other people. The assault marked Poland’s second school stabbing in two days.
Investigators are examining whether the attacks may be linked to an online challenge that reportedly urges teenagers to kill as many people as possible.
Police said a 37-year-old caretaker was killed in Thursday morning’s attack at the school in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw.
School head Krzysztof Ochmanski was hurt as he confronted and restrained the teenager, officials said. Ochmanski told a radio station that he heard a scream before rushing into a hallway.
Forensic investigators examine the site of a knife attack at a vocational school in Ostroleka, Poland, on Oct. 7, 2026. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)
“He wounded me with the blade of a rather long knife — he had three knives on him — and hit me with the handle,” Ochmanski told public broadcaster Polskie Radio RDC. “By then, I had managed to restrain him.”
The attack came one day after a 19-year-old suspect allegedly injured 10 people, including himself, at a school in Ostroleka, also in northeastern Poland.
Police also arrested a 17-year-old in Sierpc, central-north Poland, earlier this week after authorities suspected he was preparing a similar assault, Reuters reported.
CHECK THIS OUT: Ari Kytsya (TikTok Star) Wiki, Biography, Age, Boyfriend, Family, Facts, and Many More. – NewsFinale
Media members stand beside an ambulance at the scene of a knife attack at a vocational school in Ostroleka on Oct. 7, 2026. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)
“We fear a grim copycat phenomenon,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said during an emergency meeting, according to Reuters. “We are facing an extraordinary situation. … For the first time, we are dealing with a killer who wore a helmet-mounted camera, intending to film the knife attack.”
Tusk directed police officers to visit schools daily in an effort to deter further violence.
Children observe the scene of a knife attack at a vocational school in Ostroleka on Oct. 7, 2026. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)
Nikola, 18, whose brother attends the school attacked Thursday, told Reuters that rumors were circulating about the social media challenge now being examined by police.
“I mean, I didn’t know if it was even real — I still don’t know if it’s true, actually — because it sounds so unreal, so terrifying, just like something out of a movie: some kind of challenge to kill as many people as possible,” she said.