By Maureen Clark

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A man who rambled and said “stuff that made no sense” stabbed four children at an elementary school today before he was subdued by police, authorities and witnesses said.

The children were stabbed in the neck, but their injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, Anchorage Police Department spokesman Ron McGee said. The victims were rushed to two hospitals.

The stabbing happened shortly before classes were to begin at Mountain View Elementary School. McGee said about 20 pupils witnessed the attack.

Police shot the suspect, described as a man in his 30s, with three rubber bullets and took him into custody inside the school. He was also taken the hospital for treatment of the bullet wounds.

Randy Smith, chairman of the local community patrol, was among the first to arrive on the scene. He found the suspect in a classroom with a teacher and an injured boy.

“He was threatening everybody. He came towards us a couple of times. We kept him from getting out of the classroom,” Smith said. “He was rambling and saying religious stuff, stuff that made no sense.”

The man had broken a window on a classroom door and had thrown desks into the hallway, Smith said. “There was glass everywhere. The kid was crying on the floor. It was pretty confusing,” Smith said.

Pupil Ashley Smith, 11, said her brothers Billy Moy, 8, and Eric Moy, 9, were both cut on the throats while waiting in the cafeteria line for breakfast. “This man, something was wrong with him. He was on drugs or something,” she said. Her grandfather, Keith Leonard, said both boys underwent surgery and were doing well.

After the attack, the pupils other than those who witnessed the stabbings were bused to nearby Tyson Elementary School, where school officials planned to conduct a head count and then release the youngsters to their parents.

Evette Carmack rushed to the school from her job at Alaska Regional Medical Center, still dressed in green scrubs. She has two children at the school, fifth-grader Christopher and second-grader Jasmine.

“I came from Chicago to get away from all this,” Carmack said. “To get a better life for my kids.”

At least one of the students ran bleeding into the school, McGee said.

“There’s blood all over the school, a lot of blood all over the hallway,” he said.

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