An assailant stabbed a teacher at a German vocational college on Friday, sparking a police manhunt that ended with officers shooting and detaining a 17-year-old Kosovan suspect.

Police were alerted to the knife attack around 9:30 am in the western city of Essen and responded by deploying commandos to search the college.

The victim, a 45-year-old teacher, suffered serious wounds and underwent emergency surgery.

“We do not yet know what the motive was,” a police spokesman told AFP.

Officers confronted the suspect less than three kilometres (two miles) from the college and “used firearms” after he drew a knife, police said.

The youth was also receiving hospital treatment for injuries.

According to the Bild daily, the suspect was a student at the college.

The BIB vocational college in Essen offers training in nutrition and domestic science as well as social and health care, according to its website.