Police seals off the classroom where an 18-year-old male student attacked the lecturer and three fellow students with a baseball bat in the campus of the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, on Aug. 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Justin Qian)
CANBERRA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A man has been taken into custody at Canberra's Australian National University (ANU) after he attacked a classroom of students with a baseball bat on Friday morning.
The man, 18, is a student at the university, and took a baseball bat into a tutorial and began to hit other students and the female lecturer.
Fifteen people were reportedly in the room at the time and four people were injured in the attack. Other students managed to restrain the offender until police arrived.
According to Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Police, the 18-year-old offender was not known to police or intelligence agencies, while "lone wolf" terrorism has been ruled out as a motive.
"Shortly after 9 a.m., a man allegedly assaulted students and a lecturer with a baseball bat," ACT police said in a statement on Friday.
"During the class, the student stood from his seat with a baseball bat and approached the lecturer at the front of the class. Other students in the class intervened and attempted to restrain the student.
"During the incident, the male student assaulted four people, one male and three females, including the lecturer.
"Police took the 18-year-old man into custody and there is no known ongoing threat to public safety. At this early stage in the investigation it is too early to determine the motivation behind the assaults."
Meanwhile ANU acting vice-chancellor Margaret Harding moved to reassure students and families that there was no longer a threat to safety and security at the Canberra-based campus.
"I want to thank ANU Security and the ACT Police for their extraordinarily fast response to containing this isolated incident," Harding said in a media release.
"I also want to thank our students and staff who responded with extraordinary bravery.
"Our first priority is the welfare of our staff and students, and those affected have been provided with counselling and support.
"This event is shocking and unusual to our community. Canberra and ANU are caring communities where we pride ourselves on taking care of each other."
According to reports on social media, ANU staff have offered counselling to those caught up in the incident.
