Sword Stabbing at Georgia Tech

Published Feb. 4, 2010 at 11:17 p.m.
(WSB Radio/AP) Authorities say a former Georgia Tech graduate student has been charged with stabbing a university researcher with a sword.

Georgia Tech spokesman Matt Nagel says the victim was taken to Grady Hospital in stable condition after the Thursday afternoon attack inside a building on campus.

The victim has been identified as Samer Tawfik.  He's a post-doctoral fellow at Georgia Tech.

"I saw the cops come out with a huge Katana covered in blood," said Tech graduate student Mark Wieland.

No one actually saw the attack happen.   Georgia Tech officer Robert J. Turner of Griffin suffered minor injuries in a scuffle with the suspect who had to be subdued with pepper spray.

"The guy who got stabbed - I saw him wheeled out on a stretcher," said Marcus Van Antwerp. "He had blood on his hand and shirt."

Police say Kshitij Shrotri is being held in the Fulton County Jail on an aggravated assault charge.

Some graduate students locked themselves in their classrooms until the smell of the pepper spray alerted them that it was safe to come out.

"I'm glad it's over.  It's kind of scary these days," said student Jonathan Conley.

University officials say Shrotri received his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech in 2008.



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