Teachers' aides stabbed by student at Philadelphia middle school: police

PHILADELPHIA - Two teachers' aides were injured, and a student was taken into custody after a stabbing erupted inside a middle school in Northeast Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon.

Several police vehicles surrounded Castor Gardens Middle School on Cottman Avenue just after noon.

Panic filled the front doors of the school in Northeast Philly, as parents received phone messages from their kids that no parent wants to receive – that there’s an active threat at the school.

For Armando Aguilar, it was a call from his 8th grade son. "I got so scared, that was when I was passing lights, running like emergency to get here."

Police say a student pulled a knife out of his bag inside a classroom and as teachers’ aides tried to take the knife, he cut them.

A 63-year-old woman was rushed to the hospital after being stabbed in the side, while a 31-year-old woman, was stabbed in the arm. Police say she refused medical treatment.

Both are expected to be okay.

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Authorities say the student has been arrested and the weapon was recovered.

Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner, Frank Vanore, said, "It’s our understanding, it’s very preliminary, the child had some developmental issues so I’m not sure how we are going to proceed at this point."

Officials said the school was placed on lockdown for an hour and a half as many parents and guardians frantically tried to get to the school.

They breathed a sigh of relief once they were reunited with their children.

"I come here and there’s cops, ambulances," grandfather June Torres explained. "What am I supposed to think? It’s a possibility it could have been him. It’s the last thing you want to think of." June Torres, Grandfather

The incident is not sitting very well for some parents and students who say it highlights the lack of protection at the school.

"This is happening too often," parent Ashley Samuel stated. "It could have been a kid leaving out of here dead. It could have been that."

7th grader Nathan Cancel, commented, "The security at the school, they have metal detectors and the metal detectors go off and the people don’t check the bags of the children that go through the metal detectors."

School district officials say there is one metal detector at the school and they are not aware of students bypassing it. 

Monique Braxton, Spokesperson for the School District of Philadelphia, said, "The metal detectors are inspected regularly so that nothing like this happens, but from here, moving forward, the Office of School Safety will be examining more closely this metal detector."