14 DAY TRIAL // A man has been arrested for injuring two people with a knife on the Salem State University on Wednesday.
25-year-old Timothy G. Wells stabbed a female student on the bus and wounded the driver who tried to stop him. Both victims have suffered non-life-threatening wounds and they are stable.
“He went toward her and inflicted a superficial slash on the top of her hand. [...] The bus driver got up to intervene, and the assailant went after him and inflicted a superficial laceration on his upper chest,” Karen Cady, the SSU spokesperson, reports for Salem News.
Three weeks ago, Wells was arrested for breaking onto Bertram Field, the high-school football field, after getting over a fence.
He was charged for carrying a large knife on him. The city bans carrying blades longer than 2.5 inches (6.3 cm).
Cady informed that the campus attack took place at 11 a.m., while the bus was still stationed. The female victim has stated that she has not been acquainted with the suspect before the attack.
The driver stepped in to defend the girl, earning a commendation by Salem State University President Patricia Meservey.
He “bravely intervened when he saw that one of our students was being assaulted,” she says.
Wells took off in a 1999 Toyota Camry, but police caught up to him on Wednesday night, Boston.com writes.
The incident prompted a “shelter in place” alarm that kept students on the floor, with window shades drawn between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.
“I got a text walking to class, and all of a sudden helicopters were everywhere,” describes student Joseph Guarnera.
Wells is a senior at Salem State but the shuttle bus requires no ID to board. It transports students to the university's north, south and central campuses.
“He could have just boarded one of the buses (without being a student),” Cady adds.