Boy found severely injured at school in The Hague; Police investigating rumored stabbing
Paramedics and police officers raced to a secondary school in The Hague after a wounded person was found there on Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses told reporters at the Hofstad Lyceum that the victim is a boy or young man who may have been injured with a sharp implement. It was not known if the victim was studying at the school.
“A seriously injured victim was found in a school building at Colijnplein in The Hague. The victim was rushed to hospital,” police said. The incident was still under investigation and it has not been determined if a crime took place.
Emergency service providers were notified of the incident at about 2:30 p.m. A trauma team was dispatched to the scene by helicopter, as well as three ambulances and at least a dozen police officers and detectives.
Witnesses said that the victim lost a great deal of blood, and that the blood may have been around the boy’s head. Those at the scene told local news outlet Regio 15 that the boy is a student, and that he was stabbed. However, the authorities did not confirm or deny that information towards the end of the afternoon.
A girl who saw the victim also fainted at the scene. She was also taken by ambulance to an area hospital.
Those who were inside the building were forbidden to leave for at least an hour while police took statements and gathered information, Omroep West stated. Additionally, several people related to the male victim also showed up at the scene, but were barred from entering, Regio 15 reported.
“We are currently investigating the circumstances,” police said. The area was closed off to pedestrians and traffic for some time.
Queen Maxima paid the Hofstad Lyceum a visit in 2017 to discuss acceptance of students of sexual and gender minorities. She was shown how the school was handling issues related to bullying of students, in particular those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual.
About a thousand students attend the dual-language secondary school, which is one of 79 in the Netherlands participating in the UNESCO Schools Network. The secondary school offers courses in English and in Dutch in gymnasium, VWO and HAVO programs.
“As a UNESCO school, we orient our education towards Europe and the countries beyond. There are various cooperation and exchange programs with schools in Germany, Spain, England and Italy,” the school noted on its website.
