A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a maths teacher was stabbed in a Gloucestershire school, leading to hundreds of children being kept in lockdown for more than five hours.
Armed police went to Tewkesbury academy on Monday morning after the attack on the “very popular” teacher in a corridor at the start of the school day.
A suspect managed to escape from the grounds and was arrested by armed officers, supported by a police helicopter, in the village of Stoke Orchard five miles away about two hours later. A knife was also recovered.
The teacher suffered a single stab wound and was discharged from hospital late on Monday evening, Gloucestershire police said.
Police said the motivation for the attack was unclear and that there was no evidence to suggest it was related to terrorism. They said they were initially alerted to a “threat to a teacher”. Minutes later, the ambulance service reported the stabbing. Police said the teenager, who is from Tewkesbury, remained in police custody.
Emergency services are at the scene of an incident at Tewkesbury School on Ashchurch Road.
— Gloucestershire Constabulary (@Glos_Police) July 10, 2023
The school is in lockdown while police are at the scene. More information will be released in due course. pic.twitter.com/qTKt4K1WuI
Sarah Penny, a parent of a child at the school, said her child was “really, really frightened”.
She said: “They are going to be so traumatised. They had to put a small cabinet across the door to keep them safe. One of my friend’s sons sent a message to his dad saying they were in lockdown and to come and get him because he didn’t want to die. That’s the level of anxiety.”
The Guardian saw a series of text messages between a parent and pupil during the lockdown.
The messages said: “We are stuck in a classroom. Mum I’m really scared … They had guns, they had armed police and dogs were out.”
Asked who had guns, the pupil said: “The police, I saw armed police come into the school. I’m just still scared. My school is in lockdown and it’s really scary.”
Later the pupil added: “We are gonna be let out soon but I can’t call anyone. They are taking us to the gym by year group, when everyone is there and safe I think they will let us out.”
At 1.25pm pupils began emerging from the school, a year group at a time. There were hugs and tears as parents greeted them.
“We’re so relieved,” said Julie Gardiner, who was picking up her child. “You see these things on the news but they don’t happen locally.”
The child said: “The doors and windows were locked. It was quite scary. The teachers did a good job keeping us calm. We had sweets and did a geography quiz.”
Another child said: “A teacher locked the door and we were there for four hours. When we went for a toilet break we could see lots of police cars. Then there was an assembly. They told us a member of staff had been harmed. It’s sad, I don’t know why it happened.”
His mother, Michelle Smith, said: “As soon as they said we could bring him home, I was here like a shot. The teacher is one of Alex’s favourites. He’s very popular. I’m very concerned about him. We know the kids are safe, we need to know he’s OK.
“Everything is mixed up, nobody really knows. We know he was loose and managed to get over a fence.”
Ian Barnes, whose 12-year-old daughter is a pupil, said: “I drove past and noticed police cars. I thought it was an accident.”
His daughter added: “The police came into our classroom to check if we were OK. I was quite scared. After we did our main work we got to chill out.”
The assistant chief constable Richard Ocone said police received a call just after 9am from someone reporting a threat to a teacher.
He said: “Minutes later, we received a call from the ambulance service telling us a male teacher had been stabbed in a corridor.
“It was initially thought the suspect had hid himself in the school grounds. Our officers, including armed police, attended and carried out a thorough search. This search was complex and meticulous.
“The academy was locked down and two neighbouring schools were asked to close their doors as a precaution. Specialist forces including the national police air service and plainclothes officers were deployed to search the wider area and the suspect was arrested by firearms officers in Stoke Orchard at 11am.
“A knife was seized. The motivation behind the attack is unclear and there is no evidence to suggest it is terrorism-related. However, we are keeping an open mind.”
