1 Dead, 3 Injured in UT Stabbing Spree
One person was killed and three others were injured on Monday afternoon at the University of Texas at Austin when another student brandished a long knife and stabbed multiple people along a block-wide stretch of campus.
Police received calls of a suspicious person on campus stabbing individuals and made it onto the scene in just a couple minutes. Police viewed the suspect, who was identified as Kendrex J. White, assault one of the students before they intervened, tackling White and handcuffing him.
Police confirmed that within a block of the area where the suspect was arrested, they found three more people injured, all male students; one of them was dead on the scene.
At a press conference just hours after the event, police told reporters that White was a 21-year-old student of the university. On Facebook, people he knew described him as quiet and caring.
Students of UT Austin were notified of the incident about 30 minutes after the initial stabbing just outside Gregory Gym with an alert that read, “UTAustinAlert – Criminal activity with injury Criminal Activity with Injury occurred on campus. Suspect is in custody no additional immediate threat to campus. Please avoid the area of 21st and Speedway until further notice.”
Many students were upset that they had to find out about the stabbing on their campus from local news sources or social media. UT Austin Police told reporters that an alert to notify students went out in an appropriate amount of time and they did not utilize the emergency sirens on campus since those signify a lockdown. Since police had the suspect in custody in just a few minutes and determined there to be no other threat, they felt the sirens were unnecessary.
White is expected to be charged on multiple counts later this week.