Australia police arrest 14-year-old boy after stabbing at Sydney university

SYDNEY — Australian police said on July 2 that a 14-year-old boy was arrested after a stabbing incident at the University of Sydney.

Emergency crews treated a 22-year-old man, who was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition, New South Wales state police said in a statement.

There is no ongoing risk to the community, they said.

A University of Sydney spokesperson said a police operation was under way on its Camperdown campus and that police would remain on campus while investigations continue, reported Reuters.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, numerous police cars and ambulances quickly arrived at Western Avenue, which cuts through the centre of the campus, following reports of the stabbing incident on the morning of July 2.

Several university buildings were placed on lockdown as police established the crime scene.

Police were informed that the 14-year-old boy had left the scene and boarded a bus in Parramatta Road.

They later located him near Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where he was taken into custody.

A spokesperson for the New South Wales Police told The Sydney Morning Herald that the teenager and the alleged victim were strangers to one another.

Knife crime has been in the spotlight in Australia in 2024.

On May 5, the police shot dead a teenager who had reportedly stabbed a member of the public in Perth.

The Perth attack took place just weeks after a stabbing spree in a Sydney mall on April 13 that left six people dead. The suspect in the mall attack was shot and killed by a female police officer.

A knife attack at a Sydney church two days after the mall attack left at least four people, including a bishop, wounded.

A 16-year-old boy was charged with a terrorism offence for the knifing of Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel during a live-streamed church service on April 15. An Australian counter-terrorism team arrested seven teenagers on April 24 who were linked to him.

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