UPDATE: (4:02 p.m.) Doctor: Wounds Not Trivial
Many of the victims of Wednesday’s stabbing spree at Franklin Regional High School are doing well, according to doctors, though three remain in critical condition.
One stabbing victim remains in “very critical” condition at UPMC Presbyterian. Three others remain in the intensive care unit at Forbes Regional Hospital.
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“Two of them remain on ventilators, one of them is doing fine and conversant, no longer needing the support of the ventilator,” said Head of Trauma Dr. Chris Kaufmann.
The other two are slated to undergo a second operation. Kaufmann said other stabbing victims at the hospital will be able to go home in the coming days, though he said the injuries sustained were more serious than previously let on.
“The patients that we have – to give a short list of the organs they had injuries – there were injuries to lung, diaphragm, liver, vena cava, stomach, pancreas and kidney, so these were not trivial, superficial stab wounds,” said Kaufmann.
— Deanna Garcia
UPDATE: (11:08 a.m.) School Stabbing Victim's Thought: Will I Die?
One of the victims of a knife attack at a high school near Pittsburgh says he was terrified he might die when he realized he had been stabbed in the back.
Sixteen-year-old Brett Hurt appeared at a hospital news conference Thursday, a day after authorities say fellow student Alex Hribal either stabbed or slashed 21 students and a security guard at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville.
"What was going through my mind?" Hurt said. "Will I survive or will I die."
Hurt says he doesn't think he could return to school anytime soon. He says, "I might freeze."
Hurt says the whole attack was a blur.
He says he met the suspect a couple of times but didn't really know him.
Another victim — a patient at UPMC Presbyterian who had additional surgery early this morning — is intubated but responding, according to a UPMC spokeswoman. Hospital officials expect that the student, whose name has not been released, will have additional surgery Friday. He remains in critical condition.
Two teens at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh are in fair condition, according to UPMC.
— The Associated Press and Ryan Loew
UPDATE: (10:02 a.m.) Stabbing Victim Has Another Surgery
Police and doctors at a Pittsburgh hospital say a student injured in a mass stabbing at a suburban high school had surgery again overnight and is in "very critical" condition.
Authorities haven't released the student's name. He's been described by doctors at UPMC Presbyterian hospital as a 17-year-old from Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville.
Doctors say he suffered a stab wound from a large knife that pierced his liver and missed his heart and aorta by millimeters. One of his surgeons, Dr. Louis Alarcon, predicted Wednesday that the boy would need additional surgery. That took place at about 1 a.m. Thursday.
The student is one of at least five in critical condition after police say 16-year-old Alex Hribal stabbed 21 students and a school security guard on Wednesday morning.
— The Associated Press
UPDATE: (7:28 a.m.) Franklin Regional High School May Reopen Monday
Officials say a western Pennsylvania high school where 21 students and a security guard were stabbed or slashed by a student is no longer being treated as a crime scene and will likely reopen Monday.
Murrsysville police Chief Thomas Seefeld and Superintendent Gennaro Piraino announced those developments at a pre-dawn media briefing outside Franklin Regional High School on Thursday.
Seefeld said the "crime scene was quite bloody with clothes and personal belongings." But investigators have finished processing it, meaning the school district can hire a company that the superintendent says will "clean and restore our building to pre-incident condition." Piraino also said, "We're looking to have students back in our building Monday."
Sixteen-year-old Alex Hribal has been charged as an adult with attempted homicide and aggravated assault in the attacks.
— The Associated Press
