Teenage pupil fatally stabs 61-year-old teacher and wounds two others at Slovak elementary school

From the Newshound archive · first published 29 September 2026.

A teenage eighth-grade pupil stabbed a 61-year-old teacher to death at an elementary school in Staskov, northwestern Slovakia, on Tuesday in the country's third such school attack in six years. A second female teacher, aged 44, was hospitalised with a stab wound to the chest, and a pupil was admitted in critical condition. Police confirmed they had the situation under control and the public faced no further threat. President Peter Pellegrini said he was shocked it was "yet another case in which a student attacked teachers and a classmate."

Pellegrini blamed "aggression and an atmosphere of intolerance, spread primarily by social media," for radicalising children.

Prime Minister Robert Fico offered "sincere condolences" as three cabinet ministers — the Interior, Education and Health secretaries — travelled to Staskov.

Slovakia suffered a near-identical attack in January last year, when an 18-year-old killed a pupil and a teacher with a knife at a secondary school in Spisska Stara Ves.