(Radio Iowa) – Pella Police arrested a male Middle School student this morning after he assaulted multiple students. Police Chief Shane McSheehy held a news conference to explain what happened. “Initial investigation determined that a 14-year-old student at elemental school used a knife to assault multiple students who were in the cafeteria at the time,” he says.

Pella Superintendent Greg Ebeling says a long kitchen bread knife was used in the attack that happened around 7:41 before school started and the teen was quickly arrested. The superintendent says less than 20 students were there at the time and two female students sustained minor injuries but did not need to go to the hospital. The chief says they don’t know what the motivation was for the attack.

We are speaking with the juvenile with his parents present, and we don’t have any additional information as of yet, “McSheehy says. He says this student had another issue earlier this year. “The student was charged with assault back in February by the Pella Police Department. It was an assault charge causing bodily injury. That’s about all I can release on the charge,” he says. That assault was on a school counselor. McSheehy says they have good video from the school on today’s (Wednesday) attacks that they are reviewing.

“I can tell you that the suspect did not just walk in and commence activity. It appears that he had been sitting there at least for some time,” he says. “We are working again to figure out what the timeline is and to learn more about the suspect’s path of travel.”

The Pella Middle School was locked down for a time, but later reopened.