An 18-year-old man has been rushed to hospital after he was stabbed outside an alternative school in Scarborough Thursday morning.
The stabbing happened outside the Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies at Midland and Wolfe avenues at around 11 a.m.
Though the Toronto District School Board first said the incident happened on school property the school’s principal said she believes it happened on the train tracks running behind the school.
“He came into the school looking for first aid,” said Kathy Evans, principal of the adults-only facility.
The victim was rushed to a trauma centre with serious injuries, Toronto Paramedic Services said. Evans said she believes he is undergoing surgery with his mother and grandmother by his side.
The building, which also houses the South East Year Round Alternative Centre and Midland Avenue Collegiate Institute, was placed in lockdown because of the stabbing. Police have since downgraded the order to a hold and secure.
Police said they are searching the neighbourhood for a suspect described as a black male between 18 and 20 years of age. He was wearing a black hoodie, dark pants and a grey-black backpack.
Meanwhile, Evans insisted the school is safe, despite students saying that the building was the site of two other stabbings in the last few months.
Evans said those incidents had “very different circumstances” and were “not as serious” as the stabbing that took place today.
“Stuff happens – it happens in the community and it comes into our school,” she said.
"But it's a safe building. We work really hard and have a dedicated staff to make sure people know that we worry about them, we care about them and we want them to be successful.”
Evans described the victim in Thursday’s stabbing as a “great young man” who had recently received his Ontario Secondary School Diploma but was back in classes in order to upgrade his marks for college.
