Copper Hills High School in West Jordan was placed in lockdown Thursday due to a possible stabbing that occurred outside of the school.
Police dispatchers said the school was secured after a stabbing, though West Jordan Police Sgt. Kendall Holt would neither confirm nor deny that the incident involved a stabbing.
He said police were called to the school just after 12:30 p.m. and arrived to find a scene that was "a little chaotic with students. Thankfully, we had a lot of officers, a large police presence here fairly quick, we were able to contain that."
Three students at the school were involved in an altercation, Holt said, and one teenager was taken to a local hospital with "serious injuries," though he's unsure if they are life-threatening. Police declined to release the age or gender of the student who was injured.
A student shared a video of the fight with KSL-TV; in the video, cursing and name-calling are heard, and a couple of male students swing at each other while running. One student lunges toward another in a rapid stabbing motion. Instantly, the student under attack pulls back, realizing he's been hurt. He then takes off running toward the parking lot while holding the injured area, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.
Police said they have also received this video and are reviewing it as part of their investigation.
The incident is believed to be isolated and poses no further threat to the community, Holt said. He added that the two other students involved were being interviewed by detectives "as we speak."
There is still an active investigation at the school, but Jordan School District spokesman Doug Flagler said the school moved to a "lockout" protocol, meaning normal activities resumed inside the school, by 1:30 p.m. All of the students in the building at the time of the incident were safe and accounted for, but he didn't have any more information.
Large swaths of the parking lot remained cordoned off by police tape when school ended at 2:25 p.m., and Holt said school officials were working to coordinate the return of students' cars, many of which are within the active crime scene.
Little is known about what led to the altercation, and Holt said efforts are "still ongoing" to determine if the three individuals involved knew each other beforehand.
The incident occurred in front of the school on the east side. Holt described the incident as "fluid," saying it appeared to move through the parking lot, making it a large crime scene and leaving detectives with lots of area to comb through.
"I haven't been made aware of any weapons that have been found in the scene," he said.
Around a dozen students were huddled beside police cars at the scene Thursday afternoon. Holt said they had been separated from other students as detectives tried to identify and collect information from potential witnesses.
Two other schools in the area were briefly locked out, according to protocols, but reopened shortly after, according to Holt.
He didn't give an estimate for when police might give a further update on the victim's condition.
Contributing: Shara Park
