Doctor subdues attacker after 4 stabbed at Polish hospital

A 19-year-old man armed with a knife attacked staff and patients at a hospital in southern Poland, injuring four people before he was subdued by a doctor and arrested, according to officials.

The attack happened at about 6 p.m. at the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, a city near Poland’s borders with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Police said the man entered the hospital and attacked medical workers and patients with a sharp object.

Four people were injured in the attack, including a doctor, a nurse and two female patients. Hospital officials said the nurse suffered minor injuries, while the doctor and the two patients suffered stab wounds to the chest. One of the patients was also stabbed in the neck.

The three more seriously injured victims were in serious but stable condition, according to the head of the hospital’s surgery department.

Hospital director Robert Ostrowski said the doctor who was injured in the attack helped stop the assailant, holding him down until police arrived.

“Everyone here is shaken by this act of aggression,” Ostrowski said, according to TVN24.

Police said officers arrested the suspect, a 19-year-old Polish citizen from Jastrzębie-Zdrój. Officials said he had not previously been convicted of criminal offenses.

A knife believed to have been used in the attack was recovered by police. Investigators have not released a possible motive.