Police searched unsuccessfully for a weapon and a suspect at Toronto's C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute near Keele Street and Finch Avenue West after someone stabbed a student in the stomach.
The incident was called into police at 12:47 p.m. on Tuesday. The school initiated a lockdown that lasted until about 4 p.m. In the meantime, anxious parents rushed to the school.
"A 16-year-old boy was stabbed, it looks like on school property," Det.-Const. Tony Vella of the Toronto Police Service told ctvtoronto.ca about the incident at 340 Sentinel Rd. "It looks like he went home."
He took a cab home while "bleeding profusely from the stomach," Vella said.
The victim, called 9-1-1. An ambulance took the youth from his home near Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue to Sunnybrook Hospital. Vella said the victim is in serious condition.
Const. Wendy Drummond, another police spokesperson, later told ctvtoronto.ca that a specific crime scene hasn't yet been identified.
"(Investigators) are going through video surveillance that indicates that yes, something did take place in the school," but whether the stabbing itself happened in the school has yet to be established, she said.
The victim isn't being co-operative, Drummond said.
C.W. Jefferys became a notorious symbol of school violence when Jordan Manners was shot and killed there in 2007 -- something that triggered a review of school safety in Toronto.
Principal Audley Salmon wanted to assure parents the school is safe.
"My comment would be without a doubt, it's a wonderful and safe school community," he told reporters.
The school is not one of the 27 in Toronto with a uniformed officer on site.
Salmon said the consultation process is ongoing.
"We have not in fact opted out. We are currently in consultation with our community, with our students, with the staff in order to make a determination as far as whether or not there will be a school resource officer in the school," he said.
Tuesday's incident won't lead to a snap decision, the principal said.
In the wake of the Manners killing, the school did install surveillance cameras and increased the number of hall monitors.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Chris Eby
