Student charged in mass stabbing at Pennsylvania school

A 16-year-old Pennsylvania student has been charged as an adult in the early morning knife attack on at least 21 people at Franklin Regional Senior High School near Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

The suspect, Alex Hribal, was charged with four counts of attempted homicide, 21 counts of aggravated assault and one count of bringing a weapon on school property, said his attorney, Patrick Thomassey. Hribal was being held without bail at Westmoreland County Juvenile Detention Center.

The teenager, who was treated for a minor hand wound, appeared in a Greensburg court wearing shackles and a hospital gown, Thomassey said. His parents found out about the attack on the news and “are devastated,” the attorney said.

“There was no indication there was any reason for this to occur, no sense of trouble about anything,” Thomassey said. “He’s a good student, he interacted well with other students at school. They didn’t see this coming. They’re mystified and mortified.”

Hribal is suspected of carrying out a five-minute attack inside the school’s science wing, stabbing students with two 8- to 10-inch knives before he was tackled and restrained by school officials.

Thomassey declined to talk about a motive or whether Hribal was bullied.

“He’s scared, he’s frightened,” the lawyer said. “He’s a 16-year-old kid who looks like he’s 10.”

adolfo.flores@latimes.com

Follow Adolfo Flores on Twitter.