Brandon teen recovering at home after sword attack inside high school

Chelsea Kemp · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 17, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Chinoso Onuke says helium thought helium was going to dice erstwhile a chap student, dressed each successful achromatic with a mask, attacked him with a sword wrong Brandon's Neelin High School past week.

Seven of his fingers were astir severed arsenic helium fought disconnected the attacker during the hallway battle connected June 10. The 15-year-old says the teen was wearing a agelong achromatic trench coat, a hat, and a disguise with a agelong beak.

"I thought the acceptable was a small weird, honestly," Chinoso said. "I was wondering like, wherefore would idiosyncratic travel and formal similar a witch doctor?"

At first, helium thought it was a costume — until the teen pulled retired a jagged sword and lunged astatine him striking him successful his stomach.

"He's trying to termination with the past one, similar he's going consecutive here. I drawback [the sword] with some hands …  and helium tries to propulsion it away," Chinoso said describing the attack. "I don't merchandise it … I propulsion it distant and I tally away." 

 "I tally consecutive to the bureau and I'm like, if I don't get to the bureau close now, I'm cooked."

Chinoso was rushed to Winnipeg for much than 10 hours of exigency surgery. He's present recovering astatine location aft undergoing life-saving attraction to dainty wounds to his abdomen, chest, thigh and hands.

His mother, Helen Onuke, says watching her lad spell into country was terrifying. His humor unit dropped arsenic debased arsenic 57/24.

"No parents should person to spell done that. Nobody should person to spell done that," Helen said.

The household believes the onslaught was racially motivated and is calling for enactment from schoolhouse officials, the metropolis and the province. Police accidental the motive is inactive nether investigation.

During the attack, the schoolhouse was placed nether lockdown. Police accidental they utilized a stun weapon to subdue and disarm the suspect. A 16-year-old pupil has been charged with aggregate offences, including attempted murder. He's scheduled to look successful tribunal Tuesday.

"We cognize that certainly, the harms that were intended were beyond the idiosyncratic unfortunate involved," said Chief Tyler Bates astatine a property league past Wednesday.

"We bash judge that those intentions were interrupted — that the effect of our officers prevented further bloodshed."

Chinoso returned to Brandon connected Thursday and visited Neelin the pursuing day, wherever helium saw messages of enactment written connected the sidewalk.

Those messages mean a lot, helium says, because the incidental has near everyone shaken.

"One of my friends described a country wherever they thought I looked dormant erstwhile I came retired of the stretcher. My eyes were closed, covered successful blood," helium said. "It's a small shocking, I guess, but like, astatine the infinitesimal I thought I was astir to die."

Despite what happened, helium says he's not acrophobic to instrumentality to school.

"Why would I beryllium terrified of going backmost to a spot I like? There's similar a 0.01 per cent chance of this happening again," helium said.

Accountability needed

Helen, however, said her consciousness of information has been shattered by the attack. She wants justness for her lad and for different students to consciousness harmless successful schoolhouse again.

"You don't expect a sword successful school, not to speech of this Brandon, Neelin," she said. "So what are you going to bash to marque it safe?"

Hailing primitively from Nigeria, Helen came to Canada 25 years ago.

Her household moved to Brandon successful 2018 for her husband's ministry. Their lad volunteers astatine their downtown crockery kitchen, Love successful the City.

She worries the assemblage hasn't shown capable enactment pursuing what she believes was a racially-motivated attack. Helen said she hasn't heard from the politician oregon premier.

Brandon's Mayor Jeff Fawcett told CBC portion helium hasn't had a accidental to spot the household yet, helium does program connected visiting. CBC has reached retired to the state for comment.

"A kid astir got slaughtered. Why is everybody sitting connected quiet?" she said.

Recovery

Chinoso says he'll be spending the summertime resting and recovering from his injuries.

His hands are bandaged and successful casts truthful he's utilizing an iPad with dependable power to walk the time. For the adjacent six weeks, he'll request assistance eating, dressing and brushing his teeth.

Then comes rehab.

"It's going to beryllium a dilatory process, but we'll see," Helen said.

Chinoso hopes to get backmost to basketball, football, and volunteering, helium said.

But, schoolhouse adjacent twelvemonth won't consciousness the same, helium says.

"I tin hardly inactive comprehend that adjacent happened," helium said. "I look astatine my hands and beryllium like, no, this is not a dream."