A police investigation is underway into the stabbing of a student at Ladysmith Secondary School on Friday, Dec. 19.
According to Sgt. Dave Herman, a spokesman for the Ladysmith RCMP, at approximately 11:55 a.m. that day, school principal Steve Thompson reported that a student suffered a puncture wound to his back while walking through the school's halls.
Herman said the student was unaware that he had been stabbed, but experienced a sharp pain in his back on his way to a bathroom in the school. When he turned around to determine the cause of the pain in the crowded hallway, he couldn't identify who was responsible.
Herman said the student went to the school's office where a staff member looked at the wound, which was determined to be approximately five millimetres wide by four millimetres deep. The student was taken to Ladysmith Community Health Centre and was released after medical staff closed the wound with one suture. Herman said police are seeking the assistance of the public in the matter and are asking that anyone with information to contact the Ladysmith RCMP.
The victim's mother (name withheld) said Monday that her son is "doing fine," and recovering from his wound.
But she is concerned that the wound just missed his spine and kidneys and could have been more serious. The mother said what concerns her most is that her son, who is in Grade 12, has no idea as to who stabbed him or whether it was a targeted or random incident.
She said as a result, her son is "horrified" to go back to school in the new year. She has also raised concerns that the school was not immediately locked down to prevent further injuries and to help identity the culprit. "The community needs to know what's going on," she said.
Herman said that the students were being dismissed at noon on Friday for Christmas break, so most students had already left the school by the time the incident was reported to the RCMP.
The teen's mother said the school was full of students for some time after the incident. Thompson, the school's principal, was not available for comment Monday. Shauna DeBodt, a spokeswoman for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district, said the district is following the RCMP's protocols in the investigation.