BREAKING NEWS: AT LEAST 19 PEOPLE STABBED AT PENNSYLVANIA HIGH SCHOOL; SUSPECT ARRESTED (2484 hits)
A male student armed with two knives went on a slashing and stabbing rampage at a high school in Murrysville, Pa., Wednesday, injuring at least 19 students before he was subdued and handcuffed, police said.
At least 8 people were hospitalized with serious injuries, many deep puncture wounds to the abdomen, hospital officials said.
Police chief Thomas Seefeld said the suspect, who was in custody, was being treated for injuries to his hand.
Seefeld also told reporters that an alarm triggered during the incident at Franklin Regional High School prompted students to flee the building, likely keeping down the number of victims.
The suspect, carrying two knives, was apprehended after slashing students in classrooms and in the hallway.
Nicole Damico, a junior at Franklin Regional High School, told USA TODAY she and a friend were at their lockers when the alarm went off. They then heard the principal on a walkie-talkie shouting for more ambulances.
"We saw two kids down the hall and it looked like they were okay fighting," she says."I realized that one had a knife so we sprinted out of the school. One if my peers had blood everywhere and he asked me for help. I just froze and ran out of the school. After that there was chaos."
Damico said students on social media were getting threatened last night that they would be beaten or killed.
"Us kids have been through hell and back. It made me realize that anything could happen at anytime. It was just a regular day," she said.
At least eight people were hospitalized with serious injuries, said Dr. Mark Rubino, of Forbes Hospital.
UPDATE: Franklin Regional High School Stabbing Suspect Identified as 16-Year-Old Student April 9, 2014 By ALYSSA NEWCOMB, BEN GITTLESON and KAMI DIMITROVA
A 16-year-old suspect armed with two knives allegedly went on a mass stabbing spree today at a Pennsylvania high school before he was tackled by the assistant principal, according to authorities.
Thomas Seefeld, the police chief in Murrysville, Pa., told reporters this morning that he did not know the motivation for the mass stabbing at Franklin Regional High School but that it could have been a lot worse if immediate action had not been taken.
The alleged stabber, whose identity has not been released, was in custody, Westmoreland County emergency management spokesman Dan Stevens said.
At least 20 people were injured after the stabbings inside the school at the start of the school day, emergency management officials said.
No fatalities were reported, Stevens said.
At least four people with injuries Stevens described as "serious" were flown to area hospitals for treatment. Others were not actually stabbed, he said, and some of their injuries were cuts and scrapes.
Among the victims of the stabbing was a security guard stabbed in the stomach, Seefeld said.
Dr Mark Rubino, chief medical officer at Forbes Hospital, said his team treated eight victims, three of whom he said had severe injuries.
"We were ready to handle what came in the door," Rubino said, adding that, at one point, 20 surgeons were in the emergency room.
Rubino said the injuries spanned from "relatively superficial wounds" to "severe injuries to abdominal injuries." He said almost all of the stab wounds appeared to follow a pattern and were inflicted on the victims' lower abdomens.
The breakdown of injured and whether they were students or staff was not immediately known, but Forbes and Allegheny General Hospital initially reported nine patients ranging in age from 15 to 60.
Alyssa Finch, who said she is a student at Franklin Regional High School, told ABC News a fellow student pulled the fire alarm during the stabbing "because he knew what was happening ... and he wanted the people to get out."
A statement posted on the Franklin Regional School District's website said classes were cancelled today and that parents of middle school and high school students should report to Heritage Elementary for reunification. Any student who drove to school would not be released until a parent came to pick them up, the statement added.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said in a statement that he was "shocked and saddened" by the incident.
"As a parent and grandparent, I can think of nothing more distressing than senseless violence against children. My heart and prayers go out to all the victims and their families," Corbett said. "I have directed the Pennsylvania State Police to assist local law enforcement in its investigation in any way possible. Other state resources will be made available to the community, if needed. I assure the citizens of Murrysville that they have the full support of my administration."
Wednesday, April 9th 2014 at 1:04PM
Siebra Muhammad
Who knows...mayl be this student was observinig the laws of Moses... "Thou shall not kill ?"(C&E)
Wednesday, April 9th 2014 at 4:27PM
Nichiren Daishonin
Suspect in School Stabbing Spree Is 'Confused, Scared and Depressed' April 10, 2014
ABCNews--Alex Hribal, the 16-year-old student who police say stabbed 22 people at his Pennsylvania high school Wednesday, is “confused, scared and depressed,” his attorney told ABC News in an exclusive interview.
“I think he understands what he did,” attorney Patrick Thomassey said in an interview with “Good Morning America.”
“I don’t think he at this point understands the gravity of what he did. I don’t think he realizes how severely injured some of these people are. And, hopefully, there’s no death involved in any of these. We’re praying that everybody is all right.”
Thomassey said he’s unaware of any signs of Hribal’s being bullied, adding that the teen’s parents are shocked and horrified.
“They could not have predicted that this was going to happen,” he said. “They don’t understand how this occurred.”
The stabbing spree happened at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, a suburb located about 20 miles east of Pittsburgh. Morgan Ritchey, who said she had two classes with Hribal, described him as being “a little misunderstood.”
“I just always felt like he had a different side to him that nobody knew and it was, like, hard to uncover,” said Ritchey.
Hribal, a sophomore, used two 8-to-10 inch "kitchen-type" "straight" knives in the attack, which started shortly after 7 a.m., police said.
Murrysville Police Officer William “Buzz” Yakshe, a school resource officer, heard a disturbance in the hallway and joined a school security guard to go find out what was happening, according to a police affidavit.
The guard and officer split up. The next time Yakshe saw the guard, he was leaning against a wall, bleeding from his stomach.
Sam King, the school’s assistant principal, told police he saw Hribal stab the security guard. King tackled the teen and subdued him while Yakshe handcuffed him.
King heard one of the victims say, “I’ve been stabbed,” he told police.
Authorities charged Hribal as an adult with four counts of attempted criminal homicide, 21 counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of weapons on school property. He was arraigned Wednesday and is being held without bail in a juvenile detention center in Westmoreland County.
Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld said someone pulled a fire alarm during the attack, raising attention and getting students and teachers to evacuate.
"When we got there we saw a hallway in chaos, as you can imagine," Seefeld said at a news conference. "There was a lot of evidence of blood on the floors and in the hallway, we had students running about, trying to get out of the area."
Nate Moore, 15, was stabbed during the rampage and said he had to be treated with 15 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," Moore told The Associated Press.
Student Gracey Evans said heroes emerged during the attack.
"My best friend, he stepped in front of me and in the meantime, he got stabbed in the back protecting me," she said.
"You couldn't step a single place without pretty much stepping in blood."
At least 22 people were injured after the stabbings at the start of the school day, Westmoreland County emergency management spokesman Dan Stevens said.
The motive for the rampage is under investigation. Seefeld said officials were unaware of any warning signs from the suspect, a sophomore at the school.
At least four people with injuries emergency management officials described as "serious" were flown to hospitals for treatment. Others were not actually stabbed, he said, and some of their injuries included cuts and scrapes.
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 1:02PM
Siebra Muhammad
Small towns usually means everyone is connected in some way tosome one else.The parents of these children may have been school mates, married each other, played competative sports with each other's schools, ect. making it even more of a destruction. (C&E)
Friday, April 11th 2014 at 1:09AM
Nichiren Daishonin
