Two youths charged after weapons incident at Kitchener high school

Two young people have been arrested after a youth suffered minor knife injuries at Forest Heights Collegiate Institute.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) says officers were called to the school around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, but the fight occurred earlier in the day.

Investigators say several youths went to the high school and began pursuing another young person.

“The youth was able to get away and during the interaction another youth tried to step in and was assaulted by the group of youths,” WRPS Const. André Johnson said.

At this point in the investigation, police aren’t sure if the youths involved were students at the school.

Johnson said the incident is part of a concerning trend involving weapons.

“It actually extends beyond the youth,” he said. “We are seeing a lot of incidents of late with knives. It’s still a little bit early in terms of making any inferences of trends but it is quite concerning. It is something investigators are looking at and our crime analysts to learn what exactly is occurring and how we can put a stop to it.”

In the Forest Heights incident, a male and a female youth have been charged with assault with a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Investigators are still trying to identify other people who may have been involved in the incident. Anyone with information or footage of what happened is urged to contact police.

“We want to address that as fast as we can, these stabbings are concerning because they can cause life-altering injuries or even death,” said Supt. Eugene Fenton with the WRPS.

Fenton said the weapon is being used in a number of incidents, like threats, assaults and robberies.

“They are certainly more accessible than a firearm,” said Fenton.

“We're seeing incidents where they are known to each other and they're over disputes or retaliation or revenge from past disputes that are carrying on and spilling over to using extreme level of weapons,” he said.