Ex-student allegedly stabs 3 staff, plants bombs near special needs school in California: Police

A former student stabbed three employees at a special needs school in California and planted two bombs in the surrounding area Monday morning, authorities said.

The former student is accused of stabbing the three employees at Switzer Learning Center, a private school in Torrance for neurodivergent students in kindergarten through 12th grade, at about 8:15 a.m. The Torrance Police Department said in a statement.

Police said he was arrested after he attempted to stab a fourth employee and flee the scene.

While being restrained, the former student told cops that he planted two pipe bombs near the school near 208th Street and Amapola Avenue, according to police.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad responded and found two devices, which turned out to be “incendiary devices,” cops said.

Officials detonated two explosive devices at the scene. The Los Angeles Times reported. The area was deemed safe after officials warned residents to stay away from the immediate vicinity.

Two employees were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The authorities added that the third employee received treatment at the scene.

Additional details about the suspect or the motive behind the attack are not yet known.

Police said the man, whose identity has not been revealed, remains in custody.

Mother Christina Morales, 54, told the Los Angeles Times that she had been waiting long hours for her 18-year-old son, who has autism, to be released from school.

“I’m nervous,” she told the outlet. “My son gets stressed easily.”

The mother was driving her other son to school when she received a call from her daughter informing her of the stabbing incident at her brother’s school.

“She told me that one of the students brought a knife and wanted to stab other students,” she said. “My son ran and hid.”

Morales recalls learning that her son was in the cafeteria, not far from the main office, when he heard a fight and saw someone being attacked.

After witnessing the stabbing, he asked seven other students to hide in a storage room and closed the door with a chair.

The frightened mother said the students also used black garbage bags to cover themselves and hide.

The accident is still under investigation.