1 dead in Poland’s second school knife attack in 2 days, amid ‘copycat’ fears

A 15-year-old former pupil killed one employee and injured two others at a Polish primary school on Thursday wearing a helmet-mounted camera, the second school stabbing in two days, possibly in response to an internet challenge, authorities said.

A 37-year-old woman who worked as a caretaker had died in the latest attack, which took place at around 9am local time in Leszczydol-Nowiny, northeast of Warsaw, officials said.

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old wounded 10 people including himself at another school in Ostroleka, northeastern Poland, and police detained a 17-year-old in Sierpc in north-central Poland on suspicion of planning an attack.

“We fear a grim copycat phenomenon,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told an emergency meeting.

“We are facing an extraordinary situation … for the first time, we are dealing with a killer who wore a helmet-mounted camera, intending to film the knife attack.” It was not clear whether the attack was actually filmed.