'I thought I was going to die': Staff recount terror of C.P. Allen High School stabbings

Staff members of a Halifax-area high school recalled being covered in blood, screaming for help and being terrified when they were attacked by a student with a knife.

At the teenager's sentencing hearing Tuesday in Halifax youth court, two victims provided dramatic details of what happened on March 20, 2023, at Charles P. Allen High School in Bedford, N.S.

A 16-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault in the case. His identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and CBC is not naming the victims.

Their victim impact statements Tuesday revealed what they endured that day and the lasting trauma they continue to deal with.

One victim said his diaphragm was "cut open" when he was stabbed by the teen, who had been called to the office in connection with unauthorized posters being put up at the school.

It was during discussions about possible disciplinary measures that the teen pulled a knife out of his bag, according to an agreed statement of facts previously entered into court.

"Blood was running out of me so fast I almost panicked," the man said. "I thought I was going to die from bleeding out."

His wife of 32 years said the incident was horrific and changed her life.

She said she received what she described as the worst phone call she could ever get from her husband, who told her he had been "stabbed twice in the back." She immediately went to the hospital where he had been taken.

"What I witnessed in that room, I will never forget … my husband laying there covered in blood from the top of his head and all over his body and his hands, to the floor around us."

She said a tube had been inserted in his chest "to remove blood pooling from the artery."

The woman held back tears as she spoke of her own anguish since the attack, describing that she is anxious and fearful around people, and has recurring nightmares about her husband being harmed.

The man talked about his own nightmares and said he is now managing post-traumatic stress disorder.

A second school staff member said she was "petrified watching the violence being inflicted."