A 16-year-old girl and her suspected attacker were taken to hospital after what Gatineau police are calling an armed assault on a trail near the Robert Guertin Centre on Tuesday afternoon.

A 16-year-old girl was attacked on a tree-lined path, Gatineau police say. (CBC) Gatineau police were called to a trail between Highway 50 and a creek, not far from École secondaire de l'Île, around 3:30 p.m. on a report that a young woman was stabbed.

A man was stopped near the scene thanks to the help of a passerby who made a citizen's arrest before officers arrived, said police spokesperson Sgt.Jean-Paul Lemay​. The man who stopped the suspect was not injured, he said.

The teen was taken to hospital with serious injuries but her condition is not considered life threatening, Lemay said.

"We're talking about an armed aggression, possibly involving either a knife or something else of that nature," he said.

The man suspected of attacking her also had injuries and was taken to hospital, Lemay said.

"He will be met by investigators at the appropriate time," he said.

Investigators were at the scene Tuesday evening, trying to collect as much evidence as possible before nightfall.

The scene is across the creek from where a group of homeless people had been living in a so-called "tent city" before winter came. More tents popped up over the winter.