A white male suspect, who is approximately 21 years of age and currently enrolled at Lone Star College, is in police custody after 14 people were injured in a stabbing incident on the Cy Fair campus of Lone Star College in the Houston area, Sheriff Adrian Garcia of the Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Garcia said a call came in to 911 Tuesday morning describing a "male on the loose stabbing people" at the Lone Star College's CyFair campus.Fourteen people were injured in the incident, Garcia said.
It was unclear what the suspect's motive was, or what weapon he used, Garcia said. The investigation is ongoing, he said.
"We do not know exactly what type of weapon was used other than to say that it is at this point an unknown instrument," he said. "We don't know whether a knife or some other type of instrument."
Student Maya Khalil, 19, was in class in the campus' health sciences building when the incident happened, she said. She managed to take photos of the chaotic scene as it unfolded.
"It was really scary," Khalil said.
Four people were taken to a hospital by helicopter, authorities said. The conditions of the victims weren't immediately available.
The four flown to a hospital "were in a dire enough situation that they were taken out on helicopters," Bernstein said.
Bernstein said it will take time for authorities to go through the campus and "make sure there (is) not another suspect or suspects."
"I do believe the confrontation was limited to a few (classrooms) or just one classroom -- not anybody roaming around and getting into a large number of areas," Bernstein said.
Details about what led to the incident weren't immediately released.
"Stay away from the area. Seek shelter in a secure location until the incident is resolved," the school posted on its website.
A Brazilian doctor appeared in court for allegedly killing seven patients to free up hospital beds in the southeast city of Curitiba. Virginia Helena Soares de Souza recruited a group of doctors to help administer lethal doses of anesthetics, sedatives and painkillers, according to authorities.
In addition, the group allegedly altered oxygen levels for patients, leading to deaths by asphyxiation, police said. Seven other health care professionals have been charged in the case. Prosecutors allege de Souza pulled the plug on victims against the wishes of patients and their families, and in so doing broke the law. She did that to free up beds in the ICU and clear up the "clutter" the patients were causing, according to police.
During the seven years the incidents occurred, in cases where de Souza did not prescribe the drugs herself, she ordered other doctors to change mechanical ventilation devices, according to authorities. She allowed them access to medical records to issue prescriptions in her name, police said. De Souza has pleaded not guilty.
Her lawyer, Elias Mattar Assad, said she will prove that her orders in the ICU were backed and justified by medical literature. Lobato, however, said some of the patients were awake and conscious moments before the drugs were administered.
In telephone recordings made with the consent of the justice department, de Souza ordered other medical doctors and employees to shut down some ventilation devices. Euthanasia is considered a crime in Brazil.
