Malaysian police have arrested a 16-year-old student who allegedly attacked a teacher with an axe at a private school in Kuching, Sarawak, while livestreaming on Facebook.
Sarawak's acting police commissioner, Saifullizan Ishak, said officers received an emergency call at 8:03 a.m. on Oct. 21 reporting that a student had brought firecrackers to the school and used an axe to injure a teacher, The Borneo Post reported.
"The victim, a female teacher, reportedly suffered injuries to the hand during the attack," he said, adding that the case was being investigated under the Penal Code, for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means.
Saifullizan later confirmed that a video circulating online was linked to the incident, and said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission had taken down the Facebook broadcast.
The 12-minute video, filmed from the teenager's perspective, appeared to show him taking items including a lighter and an axe out of his schoolbag in a school toilet, with a mobile phone strapped to his head.
The footage turned shaky as he ran toward a classroom, then went black when the phone appeared to fall off, though screams could still be heard.
Purported CCTV footage from inside the classroom, which also spread online, shows the teenager entering at around 7:50 a.m., striking the teacher with the axe and leaving, the South China Morning Post reported.
He returns through a second door and swings the axe at students as they flee. When the teacher tries to intervene, he tries to strike her again before he is restrained and disarmed.
Police said on Oct. 21 that a penknife and a small axe had been found and that the student had been released on police bail, national news agency Bernama reported.
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Screengrab of a video footage shows a student being incapacitated during an axe attack inside a classroom in Malaysia. Photo courtesy of Reddit |
In a statement on Oct. 23 carried by The Borneo Post, Saifullizan said the teenager was still receiving treatment in hospital and that police were continuing the investigation while taking his health condition into account, subject to the advice of medical officers.
Police had recorded 24 witness statements as of Oct. 22, including from the teacher, medical officers, officers involved in the arrest and seizure, the student's parents, the family driver, school representatives and students.
Tunku Putra-HELP International School said in a statement that the teacher was recovering well with no critical injuries and that the teenager was no longer an active student there.
"Students in the affected classroom managed to evacuate the area, and no other injuries were reported," the school said. Three ancillary police officers have been stationed on campus, and safety checks are being carried out on those entering.
Sarawak's Education Department said it had contacted the school and was ready to offer psychosocial support to students, teachers and staff.
Sarawak's Minister for Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development, Fatimah Abdullah, urged the public not to share videos of the incident, saying it could violate the teenager's rights and expose those involved to online harassment, The Star reported.
She said people "must not be quick to condemn, label or shame a young person without understanding the circumstances surrounding the incident."
The attack came two months after a ninth-grader livestreamed himself opening fire at Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the southern Philippines on Aug. 18, killing a 10th-grade student before taking his own life.
Philippine authorities have since stepped up online monitoring, following another deadly school shooting in Banga, South Cotabato province, on Sept. 18.