Neelin student charged with attempted murder

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This article was published 12/06/2025 (287 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 16-year-old accused of using a sword to stab a fellow student multiple times at a Brandon high school had intended to hurt more students before police interrupted him, police say.

“It’s clear that the suspect had malicious intentions,” Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Certainly, the harms that were intended were beyond the individual victim involved.”

On Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy was rushed to Brandon Regional Health Centre in serious condition after he was stabbed in the chest, forearms, hands and thighs at École secondaire Neelin High School.

Bates said the victim remains in stable condition in hospital.

The accused teen, who is in custody, is facing charges of attempted murder, uttering threats, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and disguise with intent. He appeared in a Brandon courtroom Wednesday morning.

The chief confirmed both youths were students at the high school, and that they would have “been known to each other.” He said the motivation behind the attack is still under investigation.

Bates confirmed the weapon used was a sword, but he didn’t provide any further description or say where the suspect obtained it.

At 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call from a student who said, “A male is going crazy and holding a sword.”

Bates said police got to the school at 1:18 p.m. and four minutes later arrested the suspect, using a Taser to subdue him.

Bates applauded the fast response from police and appropriate use of force in the high-stress situation.

“Use-of-force situations are dynamic. They’re chaotic, and they require split-second decision-making under immense stress,” he said. “These officers’ actions were nothing short of courageous and averted what could have been a far more tragic outcome.

“Their heroic actions directly prevented further harm.”

During the incident, the school was put under an immediate lockdown, which was lifted after the arrest. Students were dismissed from class early and school administration alerted families of the situation.

Bates praised the school staff’s response and described it as a “swift, knowledgeable and well-trained.”

“The actions taken were not by chance on this day but the result of preparation, care and a commitment to student safety,” he said.

Bates said the question of whether additional security measures are needed in Brandon schools is an ongoing topic of discussion.

He pointed out that Neelin High School, along with other schools in the Brandon School Division, have BPS resource officers. It was the Neelin police resource officer who was first called by a student alerting police to the attack.

Bates said their presence speaks to the “recognition of potential harm.”

He said school resource officers are provided with ARTO (assessment of risk to others) training and VTRA (violent threat risk assessment) training.

“It would be remiss if we didn’t continually look at other potential enhancements to school safety, and that’s something that is always on the agenda.”

Brandon School Division Supt. Mathew Gustafson said the school’s crisis response team and social workers were at the school after the attack and again on Wednesday to support the students.

Asked if the school’s security would be reviewed or if more security measures will be added, he said the focus right now is on the victim, his family, students and staff.

He said in the upcoming weeks there will be debriefs and assessments at the school level.

“That will happen ongoing daily, in terms of ensuring we have the right responses in place,” Gustafson said.

He said the response from police was “rapid,” and there was a high level of co-operation from staff and students.

Brandon City Coun. Jason Splett (Ward 8), who has two children attending Neelin High School, said that as a parent, it was concerning to hear about the attack.

Splett said he had a “long discussion” with his children, who are 14 and 17 years old, after the incident.

While his children didn’t witness the attack, Splett said it still affected them.

“That somebody was able to enter the school and proceed to be able to do that sort of thing to a fellow student, was concerning to them,” he said.

Splett said that in the years his children have been going to school in Brandon, they have gone through several lockdowns and hold-and-secure incidents. He said there have been cases where students have brought weapons such as a knife or bear spray to school.

He said this incident is a step further.

“There was a weapon in the school, and it was used to cause harm to another student.”

Neelin High School reopened on Wednesday, the day after the attack, but the students’ attendance wasn’t mandatory. Splett said his children still went.

He said that while he couldn’t provide any information on the attendance in other classes, only two out 25 students went to his son’s class.

“It definitely wasn’t a normal day,” Splett said.

“My heart goes out to the, to the young students,” he said. “That’s something that will probably never leave their mind.”

Outside the school yesterday, positive messages were written in colourful chalk on the sidewalks.

Some of the messages read, “Brandon stands with you,” “We love you,” “Kindness wins” and “Peace to all.”

Ingrid Pulleyblank and Sheri Reimer, who both have children at the school, said that after Tuesday’s attack, one parent sent out a group message and they all “banded together and got some chalk.”

Pulleyblank said she came to the school at 7:45 a.m. to start writing messages. When the group of parents had to leave, they left boxes of chalk at each entrance so that students could write their own messages of support.

“It shows support and community,” said Pulleyblank. “It shows the students that we care.”

» sanderson@brandonsun.com