Police say the stabbings of three people during a gender class in Canada were motivated by hate

A suspect has been charged in the stabbing of a professor and two students during a class on gender issues at Canada's University of Waterloo in what police are calling a hate-motivated attack.

Waterloo Regional Police say Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, an international student who had been studying at the University of Waterloo, faces three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

“The accused targeted a gender studies class and investigators believe this was a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity,” Waterloo police said in a statement.

A 38-year-old female professor, a 20-year-old female student and 19-year-old male student were sent to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. About 40 students were in the class at the time.

Police say the accused was found in the building after the stabbing and arrested. He appeared in court for a bail hearing on Thursday.

Nick Manning, associate vice president of communications for the University of Waterloo, said the suspect graduated from the university at the end of the fall term in 2022.

Manning said that the stabbing occurred in Philosophy 202, which, according to the university website, focuses on “gender issues”.

A website description of the course said it ''will examine the construction of gender in the history of philosophy through contemporary discussions. What is gender? How do we “do” gender? How can we “undo” gender — and do we want to?” “Our entire community is really concerned that this would happen here. It's a big shock,” Manning said.

Yusuf Kaymak, a student at the university, told CTV News that he was in the class at the time and that about 40 students were there.

“The guy basically walked in and asked the teacher if he was the professor, he said yeah,' then he pulled out a knife and after that, everybody just ran out,” Kaymak said.

Some students questioned why it took hours for them to receive an emergency alert on what had happened.

Mara Crassweller, a graduate student, said it took about three hours for her to receive an emergency alert from the university after the stabbings. Brianna Egan, a 23-year-old accounting student, said her class in the same building as the gender studies lecture let out minutes before Wednesday's stabbing.

”(It) was a bit terrifying to be honest, especially with how long it took the university to respond,” she said.

James Rush, a university vice president, acknowledged the alert system “did not activate as quickly as we would have all have expected,” despite being tested earlier on Wednesday.

“In the coming days many of you will have questions about why this happened and about the University's response. My commitment to you is that senior leaders will be as transparent as possible with the information we have,” Rush said in a statement posted on the university website.

Students were expected to gather for a moment of silence in the university's arts quad later on Thursday afternoon.

In a written statement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the stabbings “horrifying and unacceptable.” “This type of violence must always be condemned. Our thoughts are with the professor and two students who were injured,” he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)