Texas community college student arrested in campus stabbing attack

CYPRESS, Texas -- A 20-year-old student went on a building-to-building stabbing attack at a Texas community college Tuesday, wounding at least 14 people -- many in the face and neck -- before being subdued and arrested, authorities said.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that Dylan Quick had been planning the attack at the Lone Star College System's campus in Cypress for some time, and had fantasies of stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school.

Quick, who was charged with three counts of aggravated assault, used a razor-type knife, and piece of the blade was found in at least one victim, the sheriff's office said. Broken blade pieces also were found in the area where the stabbings occurred, and the handle was discovered in a backpack Quick was carrying when he was arrested.

Authorities were seen entering Quick's parents' home in a middle-class neighborhood of Houston on Tuesday night. It was not immediately known if Quick had an attorney.

The attack at about 11:20 a.m. on the Lone Star Community College System's campus in Cypress sent at least 12 people to hospitals, while several others refused treatment at the scene, according to Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department spokesman Robert Rasa.

Two people remained in critical condition Tuesday evening at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, spokeswoman Alex Rodriguez said.

Diante Cotton, 20, said he was sitting in a cafeteria with some friends when a girl clutching her neck walked in, yelling, "He's stabbing people."

Cotton said he could not see the girl's injuries, but when he and his friends went outside, they saw a half-dozen people with injuries to their faces and necks being loaded into ambulances and medical helicopters.

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said it was not immediately clear what type of weapon was used, but there were indications when calls came in to the department that "students or faculty were actively responding to work to subdue this individual."

"So we're proud of those folks, but we're glad no one else is injured any more severely than they are," Garcia said.

Michelle Alvarez a student at Lone Star College's Cypress-Fairbanks campus was one of the injured in the stabbing attack at the campus, authorities are reporting least 15 people were hurt in a stabbing at the campus Tuesday, April 9, 2013, in Cypress, Texas. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, James Nielsen)

Michelle Alvarez told the Houston Chronicle she saw the attacker running toward other students and tried to back away. She said she didn't even feel it as he swiped at her.

"He came running and swinging at my neck, as I tried to get out of the way," she said.

Student Michael Chalfan said he was walking to class when he saw a group of police officers running after the suspect. He said one officer used a stun gun to help subdue the man, who Chalfan said he recognized from a drama class last year.

Chalfan described the man as "eccentric," saying he often wore gloves and was known to carry stuffed animals. He said although the man was teased by fellow students, he remained friendly.

"I'm surprised because he didn't look like he was hateful to the world," Chalfan said.

The attack came three months after a different Lone Star campus was the site of a shooting in which two people were hurt. The suspected gunman in that incident is charged with aggravated assault.

Lone Star officials initially urged people on campus, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Houston, to take shelter and be on alert for a second suspect. But the sheriff's department said authorities believe just one person was responsible.

"It was the same suspect going from building to building," department spokesman Thomas Gilliland said.

Garcia said buildings still were being searched hours later. Long lines of vehicles carrying students and staff streamed off campus as law enforcement directed traffic away from the school.

Teaundrae Perryman said he was in class when he received a text message from a friend and went outside to see a young woman being loaded into an ambulance with what appeared to be stab wounds to her neck or head. He said he didn't receive an email alert from the college until 11:56 a.m.

"I was concerned but I wasn't afraid because I was with a large group of people," the 21-year-old said. "The police got to the scene very quickly."

One student said she learned one of her classmates was stabbed after leaving the school's Health Science Center building.

"I called to check on another classmate who was still inside the building and she said the classroom was on lockdown and she said one of the classmates had been stabbed," said Margo Shimfarr-Evans told KHOU-TV. "It happened in the hallway."

Courtland Sedlachek, 18, was in class when his phone started buzzing along with the phones of everyone else in class. The room was temporarily locked down, but students were let out and off campus a short time later, in what Sedlachek described as an orderly evacuation.

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Associated Press writer Nomaan Merchant in Dallas contributed to this report.