Pennsylvania ? A 13-year-old boy armed with knives and a propane torch slashed a girl at school Wednesday before fellow students stopped him and school officials ultimately subdued him, police said.

The girl and two other students suffered minor stab wounds.

Police took the boy into custody after school officials disarmed him. Students at Antietam Middle-Senior High School, which includes seventh through 12th grades, then were taken to a district building elsewhere.

Police said that aside from the torch, the 13-year-old student had taken two bags to school containing knives, firecrackers, a small can of gasoline and a water bottle filled with torch fluid.

He walked into a first-period English class and grabbed the 16-year-old girl, throwing her to the ground and assaulting her with a knife, police said.

“The students who were in that classroom came to her aid immediately and disarmed him,” Berks Regional Police Officer Raymond Serafin said.

Officials puzzled over the student’s motive, saying he was not a known troublemaker. Police released the contents of a note the suspect left at his house for his mother saying, “Mom, I’m so sorry. I love you. Goodbye.”