Knife attack at a grammar school in Spišská Stará Ves, eastern Slovakia, on January 16, 2025. (source: Veronika Mihaliková)
A knife attack at a grammar school in the quiet town of Spišská Stará Ves has left two dead and one critically injured, shaking the small community. Emergency Medical Service officials confirmed the tragedy on early Thursday afternoon, with multiple response teams rushing to the scene.
The incident occurred during school hours, when the building was bustling with people.
“This tragedy has touched the entire society. I urge politicians, the media, and the public to communicate with sensitivity and refrain from drawing any hasty conclusions,” said Education Minister Tomáš Drucker (Hlas) at a press conference in Spišská Stará Ves on Thursday evening.
Spišská Stará Ves is a town of just over 2,000 residents in northern Slovakia, siting on the border with Poland. The popular tourist destination Červený Kláštor lies nearby, with traditional wooden raft trips launching just a few kilometres away on the Dunajec River.
An 18-year-old student entered the school building armed with a knife. After the incident, the attacker fled the scene, prompting authorities to warn residents via the town’s public address system about an armed individual at large. Anna Horníková, head of the town hall, confirmed that police had alerted the municipality to the security incident.
Mayor Ján Kurňava, who was at the scene shortly after the tragedy, declined to provide further details and appeared visibly shaken.
“This is something terrible,” he told Korzár, an eastern Slovak daily.
Police soon announced a manhunt for the suspect, identified only as S.S., a student at the school. His name is Samuel, according to media reports. He was apprehended after more than an hour, detaining the suspect in a forested area near Matiašovce, a town neighbouring Spišská Stará Ves.
Samuel followed an individual study plan, attending school on January 16 solely to sit for exams under the supervision of a commission.
Instead, the attacker stabbed a mathematics-informatics teacher and deputy principal, 51, and one student, 18, to death, the police confirmed. Both victims were female. The teacher has been identified as Mária Semančíková. The name of the killed girl was Alena. Another 18-year-girl has been transported to a hospital in Poprad.
The case is being investigated by the Office for Combating Organised Crime. The perpetrator’s motive remains under scrutiny. “As for the suspect, he is far from having a blank slate — and I’m not referring to his excellent academic record,” General Prosecutor Maroš Žilinka said Thursday evening. Authorities have yet to determine the potential punishment, as the legal classification of the act has not been finalised.
The attacker, identified by police as S.S. (source: KR PZ v Prešove)
A similar attack occurred in 2020 at a primary school in Vrútky, central Slovakia, when a 22-year-old former student fatally stabbed the school’s deputy principal, injured two children and two adults during the rampage. The motive, authorities later revealed, was believed to be linked to bullying the assailant had experienced as a student at the school.
Political leaders and parties took to social media on Thursday afternoon to condemn this violent attack at the grammar school in Spišská Stará Ves, describing it as a tragedy that underscores the urgent need for a peaceful resolution to conflicts.
“It is a genuine tragedy what happened today at the grammar school in Spišská Stará Ves,” President Peter Pellegrini wrote, adding, “No problem in the world can be solved with a knife or any other weapon. A peaceful and civilised resolution of disputes, free of hatred and violence, must be the goal of the entire nation and society.”
Prime Minister Robert Fico, himself a victim of a shooting incident last May, expressed condolences to the bereaved families. “It is difficult to comprehend what happened in Spišská Stará Ves,” he wrote, adding that he was gathering all relevant information about the case.
According to TV Markíza, Samuel transferred to the school in Spišská Stará Ves from a grammar school in Kežmarok, from which he was allegedly expelled for threatening his classmates with an attack in the past.
Martin Čupka, a former student and close friend of Semančíková, told Denník N that he met with the teacher just hours before the murder. According to him, Semančíková was dreading Samuel’s English exam, describing him as a troublesome student.
“She told me it would be best if that student had a restraining order. Even a court-mandated one,” he said.
Korzár writes that Samuel stood out as an exceptional student at the grammar school in Spišská Stará Ves. His name frequently appeared in posts on the school’s official social media page, celebrating his achievements in various competitions. Just last year, he won the district round of the German Olympiad, showcasing his linguistic talents. In April 2024, he represented his school in the Young European competition. His aptitude extended to mathematics. Beyond academics, Samuel is a passionate athlete, playing basketball and hockey ball.
Following the attack, conspiracy theories began circulating online, speculating about the young assailant’s motives, pointed out the non-governmental organisation Hoaxy a podvody. “Some disinformation profiles have already claimed that this is tied to progressive ideologies, Western culture, and a supposed ‘arrival of America,’” the organisation noted in a post on social media.
In his Thursday statement, PM Fico suggested that “every overenthusiastic person” should embrace “political silence.” Yet his own recent actions have drawn scrutiny. Just days ago, Fico verbally attacked a student who refused to shake hands with President Peter Pellegrini during an event on Monday, January 13. Fico, in his social media post described as a “short essay,” criticised the media as “anti-state” and suggested that slaps would be well-deserved, hinting that the student himself might deserve one.
Meanwhile, Fico’s coalition partner, Slovak National Party leader Andrej Danko, appeared to flout the premier’s call for discretion. At a press conference on Thursday, Danko implied a tenuous connection between the student criticised by the premier and a separate attack in Spišská Stará Ves, though he offered no further explanation. Opposition politician and former prime minister Igor Matovič of the Slovensko party also seized on the controversy. “I call on Robert Fico to immediately step down as prime minister, as he has openly incited violence against students,” Matovič declared.
The fallout from the Monday incident has escalated tensions. A Bratislava grammar school, Gymnázium Grösslingová, where the 19-year-old student in question, Simon Omaník, is enrolled, is now under police surveillance after controversial YouTuber Martin Daňo urged his followers to gather information on the teenager. Daňo managed to gain access to the school on Tuesday, followed by an aggressive intruder the next day. The school has become the target of hate speech, threats, and even physical attacks in recent days, said Bratislava Region Governor Juraj Droba.
“I appeal to the aggressors to stop immediately and let students, teachers, and staff live in peace,” Droba wrote.
The interior minister, Matúš Šutaj Eštok of Hlas, also called on politicians to avoid inflaming tensions. “I speak now not just as a minister, but as a politician and a father of two. I urge everyone to help calm the situation and not add fuel to the fire,” he said.
The appeal comes just months after Šutaj Eštok himself sparked controversy by criticising grammar school students from Bratislava’s Bilíkova Gymnasium over their Halloween costumes, which depicted elderly supporters of PM Robert Fico. Šutaj Eštok shared a photo of the students, including their faces, on social media, accusing them of exacerbating societal tensions. The school subsequently faced threats.
Timeline of knife attacks in Slovakia since 2016
2016
January 27 – In Lisková, Ružomberok district, a 45-year-old man, Ferdinand P., was killed after police opened fire. He had attacked the officers with a military knife.
2017
August 26 – In Nová Baňa, central Slovakia, a man fatally stabbed his 41-year-old wife, Ľubica T., with a kitchen knife while she was sitting in a police car. She succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
2018
December 1 – The police in Banská Bystrica, central Slovakia, dealt with two separate knife attacks. In the first, a young woman sustained serious injuries. In the second, a woman stabbed her partner twice.
2019
November 3 – A young woman was seriously injured in a knife attack in Banská Bystrica, on one of the side streets near SNP Square.
December 8 – Police intervened in an underground car park in the Košice-Juh district, near the city centre, where an aggressive man armed with knives attacked. Officers used a firearm against him.
2020
June 11 – An incident at the school on M. R. Štefánik Street in Vrútky, central Slovakia, resulted in the death of the deputy headmaster. Five others, including children, were injured. The attacker, a former pupil armed with a knife, was fatally shot by police.
2021
April 4 – A knife attack occurred during a quarrel between two men in a flat on SNP Street in Humenné, eastern Slovakia. An older man attacked a younger one, cutting his neck.
2022
June 14 – In a hotel in Dubnica nad Váhom, western Slovakia, a foreign national attacked another foreigner with a knife, causing injuries.
February 18-19 – Multiple police patrols responded to two separate incidents in Senec district, near Bratislava, over one weekend, leaving two people injured with stab wounds. One attack occurred in Nová Dedinka, the other in Senec.
2023
April 2 – In Likavka, near Ružomberok, an assailant killed a 55-year-old man with a knife. Another person sustained five stab wounds and was taken to hospital.
November 1 – A 22-year-old woman was stabbed on a train travelling from Košice to Žilina. She was hospitalised following the attack.
November 5 – A young man injured three people at a restaurant terrace in Dubnica nad Váhom. He stabbed two and assaulted the third.
Source: TASR
