An 18-year-old man will face a Canberra court on Saturday morning after a baseball bat attack at the Australian National University left several people in hospital.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Welcoming crowds for Open Day, the ANU community was still reeling from the campus attack, which happened just after 9am on Friday.
The student is alleged to have stood up during his statistics class and moved to attack his female lecturer with a baseball bat.
Three students were also injured in the attack as they rushed to intervene, one seriously.
The class have been hailed for their bravery as they disarmed the teenager before security arrived to detain him.
He was then arrested by ACT Policing and all four of those injured - three women and a man - taken to Canberra Hospital.
On Friday evening, an ACT Health spokeswoman said two of the victims had been discharged from the emergency department while two more remained in a stable condition.
Police have charged the student with several counts of assault causing actual bodily harm and intentionally inflict grievous bodily harm. Investigations are ongoing.
"The incident has been an enormous shock for all of us," ANU Acting Vice-Chancellor Margaret Harding said in a statement.
"It's important we take care of each other and seek help if we need it.
"We have stepped up counselling services to deal with the incident and affected students and staff are being provided with direct assistance by ANU counsellors."
Saturday's Open Day would see heightened security around campus, she said, and some classes would be relocated from the Copland Building, where the attack took place.
Speaking to the media on Friday, ACT Policing's deputy chief police officer Ben Cartwright and ANU deputy vice chancellor Marnie Hughes-Warrington said the incident was isolated and the student was not previously known to police.
Mr Cartwright said no motivation had yet been established.
"At this stage though, ACT Policing have not ruled anything out," he said.
Ms Hughes-Warrington described the attack as an "isolated and random incident" and "very unusual".
"[I want to] acknowledge the remarkable bravery of our students and our staff," she said.
"Our highest priority at the moment is caring for our very small community."
Any witnesses to the incident who have not yet spoken to police are urged to come forward.
