8-year-old slashes students with knife at elementary school

SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. — Authorities said an 8-year-old student took a kitchen knife to a central Minnesota elementary school and attacked three other children. Chief Perry Beise said the victims — aged 8, 9 and 13 — suffered “superficial wounds” requiring stitches in the attack before classes started Monday at Pleasantview Elementary in Sauk Rapids. No one else was hurt.

School Superintendent Bruce Watkins said the boy lashed out at the other students until an adult intervened. Beise said the boy was interviewed by police and released to his parents. The case will be forwarded to the county prosecutor’s office.

School officials sent a note to parents Monday saying they are working to identify and provide support to staff and students affected by the incident, CBS Minnesota reports.

One of the injured children is a seventh-grader who was waiting to catch a transfer bus. The other two are Pleasantview Elementary students.

Police in Sauk Rapids haven’t returned a phone message seeking comment.