Five students and a security guard were injured in a stabbing on Thursday afternoon at a high school in Tacoma, Wash., in what the authorities said arose from an “altercation.”

The authorities responded just after 1:30 p.m. to a report of an “active assault” at Foss High School, the Tacoma Fire Department said in a statement.

Four students were in critical condition with “reported stab wounds,” according to Chelsea Sheperd, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department.

Officer Shelbie Boyd, a spokeswoman for the Tacoma Police Department, said that a security guard and another student, whom she described as a “suspect,” were also injured and taken to a hospital. The suspect was also taken into custody, she said.

All of those injured were in stable condition as of 4 p.m. local time, the Fire Department said.

Officer Boyd said the stabbing had happened “on the campus” of the school. It was not immediately clear whether it happened inside or outside the building. Firefighters arrived to find one injured person outside the school and then went in to treat other people who were injured, Ms. Sheperd said.

MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital and MultiCare Allenmore Hospital received patients related to the stabbing, according to Scott Thompson, a spokesman for Multicare. Mr. Thompson declined to comment on the conditions of those patients.

A spokeswoman for Foss High School said that the school was in lockdown and that parents would have received a notification if their child was involved in the episode.

Parents were able to come to the school to pick up their children, Ms. Sheperd said.

Tacoma Public Schools did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In January 2007, 17-year-old student, Samnang Kok, was shot and killed in a hallway at Foss High School. Another student, Douglas Chanthabouly, who was 18 at the time, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison.