AUSTIN, Texas – An attacker with a machete-like knife fatally stabbed one person and wounded at least three others Monday on the University of Texas campus, and police had a suspect in custody, authorities said.
Travis County Emergency Medical Services tweeted that one person died at the scene near a gym. The others were taken to the hospital with potentially serious wounds. There also were reports of additional patients with non-life-threatening injuries, the agency said.
Student Rachel Prichett said she was standing in line at a food truck outside the gym when she saw a man with a knife that resembled a machete approach the person standing behind her.
“The guy was standing next to me,” Prichett said. “He grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved the knife in it. I just started running as fast as I could.”
Ray Arredondo, 22, said he was walking to his car when a mass of students near the gym started running.
“They were just screaming, ‘Run! Get out of here!'” Arredondo said.
He later saw what looked like CPR being performed on someone outside the front door of the gym. Another student, Arredondo said, was sitting on a bench being treated for cuts to the head or neck.
Student Peter Hasse said he saw police put a suspect in handcuffs and into a patrol car. The man in custody seemed calm, Hasse said.
Authorities cordoned off the scene to keep students away as a large contingent of state and local police, including officers in helicopters, swarmed the area.
The University of Texas is blocks from downtown Austin and the Texas Capitol building and is one of the nation’s largest universities.
The attack occurred in the central campus, just a short walk from the administration building and landmark clock tower that was scene of a mass shooting in 1966.
Comments