First responders are seen taking a stabbing victim to an ambulance following a stabbing in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada (screengrab via YouTube/CTV).
The man accused of attacking two students and a professor in a gender studies class at a university in Canada was a student who had recently graduated.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, 24, is believed to have carried out the attack at Waterloo University on Wednesday as class was underway. Waterloo Regional Police released his name and the charges against him on Thursday.
Villalba-Aleman is charged with three counts of aggravated assault, four accounts of assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and mischief under $5,000, police said in a press release. He was an international student who had been studying at the university, according to the press release.
Police say that Villalba-Aleman is in custody and will make his first court appearance on Thursday.
“We believe this was a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity,” Waterloo Regional Police spokesperson Cherri Greeno told Law&Crime.
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The professor, age 38, and two students, ages 20 and 19, were stabbed in the attack. The professor and the 20-year-old student are female; the 19-year-old victim is male. Police say all sustained “serious but not life-threatening” injuries.
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Villalba-Aleman was “located by police within the building and arrested.” His first court appearance was scheduled for Thursday.
At the time of the attack, around 40 students were inside the classroom, Waterloo police said. A message from the university says the attack happened at around 3:40 p.m.
According to the Imprint, the University of Waterloo’s student newspaper, the attacker walked into the classroom and asked the professor what the class was about. He then reportedly closed the door, pulled two knives out of his backpack, and proceeded to attack the professor.
Students reportedly fled through an exit at the back of the class.
“Any type of assault, especially one that may be hate-motivated, is extremely concerning, very shocking to the community,” Greeno said. “We don’t get a lot of these types of serious incidents. As a police service, we take these extremely seriously.”
Greeno said the investigation into the attack is ongoing.
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