PA stabbing suspect like ‘deer in headlights’ — lawyer

Franklin Regional HS stabbing suspect in custody. Screengrab from CBS News

MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — The attorney for a 16-year-old student accused of going on a stabbing spree at his high school outside Pittsburgh says the boy was “like a deer in the headlights” hours after the attack.

Attorney Patrick Thomassey says he believes police are just as puzzled as Alex Hribal’s family is about why he pulled two knives out of a kitchen drawer Wednesday, went to school and “started stabbing people.”

Hribal is accused of either stabbing or slashing 21 fellow students and a security guard at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville.

Hospital officials say 10 boys remained hospitalized at midday Thursday, including three in critical condition.

Hribal is being held without bail on charges including four counts of attempted homicide.

His attorney is seeking a psychiatric evaluation of the boy, who he says never had any trouble at school and was not a loner.