DELTA Police said on Wednesday that they recovered a knife that was allegedly used in Tuesday’s assault at Burnsview Secondary School, and confirmed that the victim was stabbed.

Both the victim and suspect are youths who attend Burnsview Secondary and are under the age of 18.

The student who was injured and taken to hospital has now been released to the care of their family.

The suspect was arrested January 19, and has been released to the custody of their family, under a number of conditions, which include not attending Burnsview Secondary.

The suspect is not known to police, and this matter is not believed to be linked to any gang violence.

“This appears to be a conflict between two students that unfortunately escalated to violence,” said Cris Leykauf, spokesperson for Delta Police. “Police are taking this incident extremely seriously, and remain very committed to working with the Delta School District on school safety.”

The Delta Police Department has an active School Liaison Officer program in which officers present on age-appropriate topics throughout elementary and high school and help forming relationships up to the Student Police Academy at the Grade 12 level. The DPD also has a highly committed youth team, which works daily with high risk or at-risk youths, running programs such as Yo-Bro, Yo-Girl, and regularly refers youth to counselling and other assistance programs, added Leykauf.

As both the victim and suspect are youths under the age of 18, police will not be releasing any other information in order to protect the privacy of both individuals, and out of consideration for their young age. It is requested that those discussing the incident on social media refrain from releasing any information which could identify either youth, and potentially inflame the matter.