In a bizarre incident of college campus violence this morning, five students were apparently stabbed by a single suspect at UC Merced. The university tweeted about the incident, as shown below, announcing that a suspect was shot and killed by campus police, and classes for the day have been cancelled.
The incident occurred just after 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Update: Campus police report suspect shot & killed. 5 students have been treated for stab wounds. Campus remains closed. Classes canceled.
— UC Merced (@ucmerced) November 4, 2015
CBS 5 in San Francisco reports that two students were airlifted to a hospital and the three others were treated for their wounds on campus. All five were "conscious" according to the university, and it does not sound as though anyone is in critical condition.
CNN, perhaps just guessing, says the stabbing spree was committed by a "deranged individual."
Nothing further is yet known about the victims' condition, or the identity of the attacker.
Just yesterday, a freshman at nearby Fresno State University was arrested for threatening to shoot a "hot blonde" in the head. The Fresno Bee and others took the threats to mean a mass shooting was in the works.
Update: ABC 30 clarifies that possibly not all five victims were students, but "three or four" were students. Also, the culprit was seen running away from a campus police officer wearing all black with a hood covering most of his face.
Update 11/5: It turns out that only four people were stabbed, and as of Thursday only one, a student advisor on the university staff, remained hospitalized. Two other victims have not been identified, both of them male students, and the fourth victim was a 31-year-old construction worker who tried to intervene and was stabbed himself. The deceased culprit has been identified as 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad of Santa Clara.
