Two-knife stabbing rampage at Pennsylvania high school injures 22, suspect in custody
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 10:10 PM
Twenty-two people were injured when a 16-year-old boy went on a stabbing rampage at a Pennsylvania high school early Wednesday, leaving five students in critical condition, authorities said.
Sophomore Alex Hribal allegedly brandished two large knives in the bloody attack as he darted between several classrooms and down a hallway at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville — a typically peaceful community about 18 miles east of Pittsburgh.
Twenty-one students and an adult security guard were wounded, officials said.
Witnesses said the boy, who was wearing a "blank expression" on his face, first tackled a freshman and stabbed him in the belly before getting up and running wildly down the hall, slashing other students.
One boy suffered a pierced liver after being thrust with one of the 8-to-10-inch knives, narrowly missing his heart and aorta, doctors said.
The teen was finally tackled by an assistant principal and a security guard, who were able to subdue him until police arrived.
Alex Hribal is accused of using two 8-to-10-inch knives in the stabbing.
Hribal was charged Wednesday night as an adult with four counts of attempted homicide and 21 counts of aggravated assault.
A motive wasn't immediately known but police said they were investigating reports of a threatening phone call between the suspect and another student the night before.
"I'm going to f--- you up," freshman Hope Demont told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Hribal was rumored to have told an upperclassman by phone the night before.
She said the call was allegedly made using a restricted number.
Mia Meixner, a sophomore at the school who witnessed the attack, told USA Today that the suspect was “really shy" and "always kept to himself.
Hribal, the suspect in the stabbing rampage, is taken into custody after a principal and security officer were able to subdue him.
(KEITH SRAKOCIC/AP)
"He didn't talk to many people," she said.
Nate Moore, 15, said he saw the first attack just after 7 a.m. and was going to try to break it up when the boy got up and slashed his face, requiring 11 stitches.
“It was really fast. It felt like he hit me with a wet rag because I felt the blood splash on my face. It spurted up on my forehead,” he said.
Assistant Principal Sam King is the one credited with successfully tackling the armed suspect to the floor.
King’s son said that his father was treated at a hospital, though authorities have said he did not suffer any knife wounds.
“He says he’s OK. He’s a tough cookie and sometimes hides things, but I believe he’s OK,” Zack King said. He added, “I’m proud of him."
Dr. Chris Kaufman, director of trauma at Forbes Regional Medical Center, described some of the worst wounds seen on the victims as "more than an inch (wide)," and "multiple inches deep.
"The stab wounds were large in my experience, even an ice pick wound can be lethal ... but these were all impressively large holes in each of the patients that I saw," he said at an afternoon press conference.
“Some of these patients may require multiple surgeries over time to get through their injuries," Kaufman added. “We worry about them hour by hour but a week from now we should have a very clear sense of how all these patients are doing."
Mark Rubino, chief medical officer for Forbes Hospital, explained that the slashes appeared to follow a pattern. The suspect aimed for the lower abdomen causing severe damage to internal organs.
Hribal, seen after his arrest at the Murrysville police department, was charged as an adult in Wednesday's stabbing that left 22 people injured.
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"The critical nature of these injuries really demanded an acute response," he said.
Most of the other injuries were "stab wounds to extremities," according to Dan Stevens, deputy emergency management coordinator for Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety. Others were scrapes and bruises.
Police and paramedics rushed to the scene in Murrysville after the first call came into 911 about 7:13 a.m.
Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld described the scene as vast and said it could take several days to process.
Seefeld noted how important it was that a student pulled a fire alarm after the violence broke out. It prompted students to flee the school to safety.
"The fire alarm being pulled probably assisted with the evacuation of the school and that was a good thing that that was done," he said.
Classmates identified the student who pulled the alarm as Nate Scimio, who later tweeted out a selfie from the hospital with a bandage around his arm.
But Scimio was not the only hero.
Student Ian Griffith told WPXI he was walking down the school's stairs when he came face-to-face with the knife-wielding suspect.
Rather than running to save himself, Griffith courageously rushed in to help.
"Mr. King was yelling at him, and I didn’t know why. I saw him stab Sarge, the officer. We both jumped on him and immobilized him," he recalled with a shaky voice.
Reese Jackson, the CEO and president of Forbes, also credited one teen girl, whose mother is a health care professional, for applying pressure to the wounds of several students and possibly saving their lives.
“What a tremendous act of courage,” Jackson told the Daily News. “She talked to some of the physicians here and they were very complimentary of her actions.”
Jackson, who lives just three blocks from the school, emphasized how tight-knit their community was. An obstetrician on staff watched as children he delivered returned with stab wounds.
"It’s really a traumatic experience for everyone concerned," Jackson said. "We have eight families here. We are really trying to attend to their emotional and spiritual needs."
After the attack, the high school students were evacuated to the district's middle school. Parents were then told to report to the town's elementary school to reunite with their kids.
Some parents learned that their children were so badly wounded they needed to be airlifted from the scene.
Eight patients, aged 15 to 60, were taken to Forbes Hospital. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center treated a dozen patients. Five have been discharged.
When Kaufman was asked what the scene could have been like if the weapon was a gun, he didn't shy away from painting a much more grisly scene.
“The bullets would have gone through the patients and more people would have been injured and the bleeding would have been more severe," he said.
Morris Hundley, the father of a high school student, moved to Murrysville so he could raise his daughter in a safe environment. He told CBS Pittsburgh he spoke to her daughter over the phone. Her best friend was among the victims.
“She was just frantic. I never heard her talk like that,” he said to the station. “That’s why I got off the phone right away and came here as soon as I could.”
Hundley said that his first order of business is to give his daughter a big hug as soon as he sees her.
The school district, which serves roughly 3,600 students from the communities of Murrysville, Export and Delmont, posted the following statement on its website:
"A critical incident has occurred at the high school. All elementary schools are canceled, the middle school and high school students are secure. Additional information will be released as soon as possible. Please keep our campus clear of traffic."
Counseling services will be available for the entire school community. The high school will be closed for the next few days but the elementary and middle schools will stay open.
"[Posttraumatic stress disorder] is a real entity," Kaufman said before Rubino echoed that concern.
"We're having students respond to their friends ... and you can see that some of these students appear to have some degree of shock and distress," he said. "Prom is coming up and that's what should be on their mind."
Superintendent Gennaro Piraino also expressed his thanks for the outpouring of support received.
“We appreciate the thoughts, prayers from our local community as well as across the nation,” he said.
The FBI is assisting local law enforcement with the investigation into this incident, particularly concerning the suspect’s background.
"There’s a lot of healing still to come," Jackson said.
With News Wire Services
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/stabbings-reported-pennsylvania-high-school-article-1.1750425
My comments: Another of the Plague of School Attacks in the U.S.--Schools that are run by the LEFT, who Indoctrinate Children against God and His Word.
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