Concordia Lutheran High School went on lockdown Wednesday after one student slashed another in the neck with a knife, then chased him through the hallways, witnesses and authorities said.

The 17-year-old victim was in serious but stable condition at Parkview Hospital on Wednesday night. Police said his 14-year-old attacker was arrested on a charge of battery.

Concordia Executive Director Terry Breininger called it the first violent attack of its kind in school history.

Classes were dismissed early, and parents and students said it was difficult to imagine something like this was possible at the private school with fewer than 700 students.

"I just can't believe something like this would happen here," said Terry Martin, 49, a Concordia alumnus whose daughter is a freshman there.

Breininger called the attack an "isolated incident" and said the school's emergency procedures worked properly. Both teens involved are good students and the slashing was "out of character," he said. Spokeswoman Renee Pinkerton said officials don't plan to institute bag searches or major policy changes for today.

But administrators planned to meet with teachers this morning to review the school's response and make them aware of the counselors who will be available to students and staff members who want to talk about the attack, Pinkerton said.

Fort Wayne police were called to the high school at 1601 St. Joe River Drive, near North Anthony Boulevard, about 11:30 a.m. and found a 17-year-old student suffering from a knife wound to his neck. He was taken to Parkview.

Police believe the 14-year-old student was involved in a "verbal confrontation" with the older student before the attack, although officials did not elaborate on the nature of the previous conflict. The students' names were not released.

At lunchtime, the 14-year-old approached the victim in the cafeteria and slashed him across the throat with a large sheath knife, police and several students said. Kayla Barnes, 15, said she was standing in the lunch line when she saw the student, covered in blood, run out of the cafeteria holding his bleeding neck.

As the injured student ran through the hall, the 14-year-old ran after him with the knife, police said.

Luke Kaiser, 17, said he saw the attacker's brother tackle him and wrest the knife away.

When officers arrived, they took the student into custody and later arrested him on a charge of battery with a knife. He was being held at the Allen County Juvenile Center.

The school immediately went into lockdown, and students were not allowed to leave their classrooms until officials dismissed school shortly after 1:30 p.m., about 90 minutes early, Breininger said.

Students had a final exam scheduled for the last period of the day, but officials didn't think the atmosphere after the attack was "conducive to good test-taking," he said.

Despite students being locked in their classrooms, word spread quickly through the student body, then to parents and the outside world as students sent text messages and posted information on the social-networking site Facebook.

Students buzzed with eyewitness accounts of the slashing as they gathered in the parking lot after school. Most could hardly believe what had taken place.

Barnes said the attack was so sudden and unexpected that most students didn't realize what was going on at first and thought it was a ghoulish gag.

"I never thought something like this would happen here," Kaiser said, echoing a popular refrain.

mzennie@jg.net

Update

As of 8:40 a.m. Thursday, the 17-year-old remained in serious condition, according to a written statement issued by officer Michael Joyner, police spokesman.