Professor, 2 students injured in stabbing at Canadian university; suspect in custody

June 28 (UPI) -- A professor and two students were hospitalized and a suspect was taken into police custody following a stabbing Wednesday afternoon on the campus of a Canadian university, authorities said.

The incident happened on the main campus of the University of Waterloo within the city of Waterloo, which is home to some 121,400 people located about 70 miles west of Toronto in the eastern province of Ontario.

Cherri Greeno, the director of corporate affairs for the Waterloo Regional Police Service, told UPI over the phone late Wednesday that the three victims suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Police were called to the main campus' Hagey Hall of the Humanities at around 3:30 p.m. for a stabbing and took the suspect into custody shortly afterward within the same building, she said.

Authorities have determined that the suspect, a man Greeno said was "part of the university community," walked into an ongoing philosophy class on gender studies and stabbed the professor and two students.

Greeno told UPI that the suspect is being questioned to determine a motive.

Asked if the subject of the class may be connected to the violence, Greeno said police are examining all possibilities.

"That's something we don't know right now, but we're hoping to determine a motive through the questioning," she said, adding that the stabbing was an "an isolated incident within the university."

The suspect has yet to be charged.

The university confirmed in a statement that police have cleared Hagey Hall, which will remain closed Thursday morning amid the police investigation.

After-hour mental health support is being offered by the university to students impacted by Wednesday's violence, it tweeted.

The university had earlier instructed all present in Hagey Hall to vacate immediately and leave all doors open in the process.

It said that while all classes to be held Wednesday night in Hagey Hall were canceled all other campus operations were to proceed as usual.

"There is no further threat to our campus community," it said in a statement. "We continue to support WRPS in their investigation."