Hamid Aminzada, a 19-year-old student, has died after being stabbed multiple times at North Albion Collegiate Institute in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, police said Tuesday.

Aminzada was found in the school's front hallway and had been slashed in the face and stabbed in the stomach, police said.

Paramedics were called to the school, located at 2580 Kipling Ave., just north of Finch Avenue West, at 12:40 p.m. ET, where Aminzada was without vital signs when emergency crews arrived.

"Police, EMS and Fire arrived on scene, they were able to bring him back," said Const. Jenniferjit Sidhu. "CPR was commenced and a pulse had been restored and there was an emergency run to hospital."

Aminzada later died in hospital as police searched the school for his attacker. It was the first time a student has been killed inside a Toronto high school since 2007, when 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot to death inside CW Jefferys Collegiate Institute.

"I just came from lunch to school. I just entered I saw two people running. I didn't know what was going on, so I just came in and I saw a person on the floor, he was bleeding," said Sawan Patel, a fellow student.

'Very involved, very kind'

At a press conference held outside the school Tuesday afternoon, principal Naeem Siddiq described Aminzada as "quite focused on his family and his future" and that he was "very involved, very kind and well-known to teachers and students."

​Aminzada came to Canada a little more than two years ago from Afghanistan and was in his second year at the school.

Siddiq added that there was no indication that Aminzada had troubles with any other students.

"Our priority right now is to do our best to take care of all the students, to be supportive of the family and try to provide some sense to the kids in the building."

Siddiq added that the stabbing was "an isolated incident."

"I've always felt that this is a true community school where the kids look out for each other," he said. "We're going to do our best to keep all the kids safe, make sure that the kids come here by choice and they're very comfortable here."

Naj Chaudhry remembered Aminzada as a good friend.

"What I'd like to say is that this guy was one of the nicest guys I ever knew in my life. He was one of the most humble guys, and for him, everyone was his family."

Search for suspect

Det.-Sgt. Terry Browne, lead investigator on the case, said police are currently reviewing security footage from inside and outside the school and interviewing witnesses.

"We have no idea what caused this to occur, but obviously whatever it was escalated very quickly," he said. "Part of our investigation will be to determine whether there was a pre-existing history between these two, but we just don’t know right now.”

A police spokesperson earlier described the suspect as a 17-year-old black male who was wearing a blue T-shirt at the time of the incident. It was not known at the time if the suspect was also a student at North Albion.

"We're confident we know who we're looking for​," Browne told media at the press conference​. "We're quite confident we'll make a quick arrest on this."​

'A sombre day'

​The school, along with four other high schools in the area, were under lockdown until nearly 4 p.m. as police searched for the suspect. The lockdowns have since been lifted.

"This is a sombre day for the entire TDSB community, especially the students and staff at North Albion, as we mourn the tragic loss of this young life," said Donna Quan, director of education for the Toronto District School Board.

"Under these difficult circumstances, I would like to thank North Albion students for being incredibly co-operative during the lockdown. They deserve a lot of credit for the way they handled the situation, as do the staff who implemented the lockdown calmly and quickly," said Quan.

About 1,000 students attend North Albion Collegiate Institute.