A 16-year-old boy has been sent to a juvenile correctional centre after stabbing three colleagues and a worker at the Stuart de Carvalhais Secondary School in Massamá, Sintra, on Monday.
The youngster was detained by the PSP police and interrogated about the attack, which took place just after 4pm when the boy launched a flare gun in one of the school buildings to call the attention of students, who were then stabbed at random as they ran out of classrooms in panic.
A 40-year-old school employee was stabbed in the neck as she tried to grab the attacker and three students suffered minor stab wounds. The victims received hospital treatment for their injuries and are said to be “recovering well”.
Police heard the youngster describe his “massacre plan”, which he had sketched out on a piece of paper, allegedly with the help of some colleagues, and included the killing of “at least” 60 people. The alleged accomplices are also being investigated for their involvement in the plan.
According to the authorities, the paraphernalia the youngster intended to use to commit his crime included “knives, smoke bombs, homemade explosives, pepper spray, a baton, gasoline, alcohol, matches, a lighter and a gun”.
It appears from the boy’s detailed plan that he planned to attack classrooms with a large number of pupils and his objectives were clear – “to kill, at least, 60 people and beat the record”, revealed the authorities.
The youngster told police he was attempting to “imitate a massacre”, such as those carried out at the Columbine High School and the Sandy Hook Elementary School, both in the US. He then planned to escape and commit suicide, the boy revealed.
Police confiscated the knife used in the school attack, four other knives of varying sizes, a scarf and a hood, which the boy said he used to conceal his identity and to scare his colleagues.
The boy was also carrying a rucksack containing several packages of coloured smoke bombs, pepper spray, alcohol, matches and lighters, also seized by the authorities.
It emerged this week that the boy had caused havoc at the school last year when he tried to injure a teacher by throwing a stone through a classroom window, but failed. Another episode which the police believe the youth was involved in took place in the Belas area, where a rubbish bin was set on fire. Neither of these incidents were reported to the police.
After being heard at the Sintra Family and Minors Court on Tuesday, a judge sentenced the youngster to three months in a correctional centre.
