Chinoso Onuke says he thought he was going to die when a fellow student, dressed all in black with a mask, attacked him with a sword inside Brandon’s Neelin High School last week.
Seven of his fingers were nearly severed as he fought off the attacker during the hallway assault on June 10. The 15-year-old says the teen was wearing a long black trench coat, a hat, and a mask with a long beak.
“I thought the fit was a little weird, honestly,” Chinoso said. “I was wondering like, why would someone come and dress like a witch doctor?”
At first, he thought it was a costume — until the teen pulled out a jagged sword and lunged at him striking him in his stomach.
“He’s trying to kill with the last one, like he’s going straight here. I grab [the sword] with both hands … and he tries to pull it away,” Chinoso said describing the attack. “I don’t release it … I push it away and I run away.”
“I run straight to the office and I’m like, if I don’t get to the office right now, I’m cooked.”
Chinoso was rushed to Winnipeg for more than 10 hours of emergency surgery. He’s now recovering at home after undergoing life-saving care to treat wounds to his abdomen, chest, thigh and hands.
His mother, Helen Onuke, says watching her son go into surgery was terrifying. His blood pressure dropped as low as 57/24.
“No parents should have to go through that. Nobody should have to go through that,” Helen said.
The family believes the attack was racially motivated and is calling for action from school officials, the city and the province. Police say the motive is still under investigation.
During the attack, the school was placed under lockdown. Police say they used a stun gun to subdue and disarm the suspect. A 16-year-old student has been charged with multiple offences, including attempted murder. He’s scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
“We know that certainly, the harms that were intended were beyond the individual victim involved,” said Chief Tyler Bates at a press conference last Wednesday.
“We do believe that those intentions were interrupted — that the response of our officers prevented further bloodshed.”
Chinoso returned to Brandon on Thursday and visited Neelin the following day, where he saw messages of support written on the sidewalk.
Those messages mean a lot, he says, because the incident has left everyone shaken.
“One of my friends described a scene where they thought I looked dead when I came out of the stretcher. My eyes were closed, covered in blood,” he said. “It’s a little shocking, I guess, but like, at the moment I thought I was about to die.”
Despite what happened, he says he’s not afraid to return to school.
“Why would I be terrified of going back to a place I like? There’s like a 0.01 per cent chance of this happening again,” he said.
Accountability needed
Helen, however, said her sense of safety has been shattered by the attack. She wants justice for her son and for other students to feel safe in school again.
“You don’t expect a sword in school, not to talk of this Brandon, Neelin,” she said. “So what are you going to do to make it safe?”
Hailing originally from Nigeria, Helen came to Canada 25 years ago.
Her family moved to Brandon in 2018 for her husband’s ministry. Their son volunteers at their downtown soup kitchen, Love in the City.
She worries the community hasn’t shown enough support following what she believes was a racially-motivated attack. Helen said she hasn’t heard from the mayor or premier.
Brandon’s Mayor Jeff Fawcett told CBC while he hasn’t had a chance to see the family yet, he does plan on visiting. CBC has reached out to the province for comment.
“A child almost got slaughtered. Why is everybody sitting on quiet?” she said.
Recovery
Chinoso says he’ll be spending the summer resting and recovering from his injuries.
His hands are bandaged and in casts so he’s using an iPad with voice control to pass the time. For the next six weeks, he’ll need help eating, dressing and brushing his teeth.
Then comes rehab.
“It’s going to be a slow process, but we’ll see,” Helen said.
Chinoso hopes to get back to basketball, football, and volunteering, he said.
But, school next year won’t feel the same, he says.
“I can barely still comprehend that even happened,” he said. “I look at my hands and be like, no, this is not a dream.”
Chinoso Onuke, 15, is now recovering at home after undergoing a 10-hour surgery in Winnipeg. He says he thought he was going to die when a fellow student, dressed all in black with a mask, attacked him with a sword inside Brandon’s Neelin High School last week.
