Man wielding bat, machete goes on school rampage

William Michael Stankewicz is led into the district justice office in York, Pennsylvania, on Friday

YORK, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A man wielding a bat and a machete entered Winterstown Elementary School Friday morning and attacked three women and five children, police said.

None of the injuries was life threatening and a suspect was in custody.

The man followed a parent into the York County school around 11:30 a.m. and chased the principal down the hall, said Patrick McFadden, executive director of the York County Government Emergency Services Department.

The first call to 911 came in at 11:32 a.m. and, two minutes later, a woman called 911 and said she had barricaded herself and two children inside the principal's office to escape the attacker.

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The principal was the most seriously wounded in the attack, a Memorial Hospital spokeswoman said. Norina Bentzel, 41, was treated for extensive lacerations to her hand and a partially severed finger and was to be sent by helicopter Friday for to Union Memorial Hospital, in Baltimore, where she was to undergo plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Also wounded was Stacey Bailey, 33, a third-grade teacher, who said she had been hit in the left arm. She was expected to be discharged Friday afternoon.

And Linda Collier, 52, a kindergarten teacher, also suffered cuts to her hand. She was to be taken to surgery Friday afternoon.

Two of the women attacked by the man -- aged 52 and 33 -- suffered minor cuts to their arms.

The injuries suffered by the children were described as minor. Four of them, all five years old, were taken to York Hospital and released. A fifth child was taken by her mother to a doctor's office.

North Hopewell Township police questioned the suspect hoping to determine his motive, McFadden said.

School officials recessed classes and asked parents to come get their children early.

York is a town of 42,000 people about 25 miles south of Harrisburg.

York County, Pennsylvania
Union Memorial Hospital

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