(9 Apr 2014) Flailing away with two knives, a 16-year-old boy with a "blank expression" stabbed and slashed 19 students and a security guard in the crowded halls of his suburban Pittsburgh high school Wednesday before an assistant principal tackled him. At least five students were critically wounded, including a boy who was on a ventilator after a knife pierced his liver, missing his heart and aorta by only millimeters, doctors said. The rampage - which came after decades in which U.S. schools geared much of their emergency planning toward mass shootings, not stabbings _ set off a screaming stampede, left blood on the floor and walls, and brought teachers rushing to help the victims. The motive was under investigation. The suspect, whose name was not immediately released by police, was taken into custody and treated for a minor hand wound. Late in the afternoon, he was brought into court in shackles and a hospital gown to face charges. The attack unfolded in the morning just minutes before the start of classes at 1,200-student Franklin Regional High School, in an upper-middle-class area 15 miles east of Pittsburgh. It was over in about five minutes, during which the boy ran wildly down about 200 feet of hallway, slashing other students with kitchen knives about 8 to 10 inches long, police said. A police officer who is regularly stationed on campus called police after finding the security guard wounded, police said. Nate Moore, 15, said he saw the boy tackle and stab a freshman. He said he going to try to break it up when the boy got up and slashed his face, requiring 11 stitches. The attacker "had the same expression on his face that he has every day, which was the freakiest part," Moore said. "He wasn't saying anything. He didn't have any anger on his face. It was just a blank expression." Assistant Principal Sam King tackled the boy and disarmed him, with help from another administrator, police said. Doctors said they expect all the victims to survive, despite large and deep abdominal puncture wounds in some cases. King's son told The Associated Press that his father was treated at a hospital, though authorities have said he did not suffer any knife wounds. As for what set off the attack, Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld said investigators were looking into reports of a threatening phone call between the suspect and another student the night before. Seefeld didn't specify whether the suspect received or made the call. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/66cfd8e391dde5fe5d6d82278366e8fd

• published: 03 Aug 2015
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