Pennsylvania school stabbing : 20 injured, suspect in police custody

As many as 20 people were injured after a stabbing spree inside Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pa., at the start of the school day, emergency management officials said.

Westmoreland County emergency management spokesman Dan Stevens said no fatalities were reported.

The student was “flashing two knives around” as he moved through the classrooms and a first-floor hallway, said Thomas Seefeld, the Murrysville police chief. A school security guard handcuffed the student and suffered a wound to the stomach, the chief said.

The attack happened at Franklin Regional High School, in the suburb of Murrysville, just after doors opened for the day. A student described panic in the halls.

“I was walking into the school and a stampede of people were running after me,” said the student, Kari Lee, who said several of her friends had been knifed. “They were screaming, ‘Go to your cars! Go to your cars! Someone is stabbing people!’”

Seven teenagers and an adult were taken to Forbes Regional Hospital, Dr. Chris Kauffman, the trauma director there, told NBC News. The seven were stabbed in the chest, back and abdomen, he said. He characterized some of the injuries as life-threatening but said everyone was expected to live.

At least three students were in surgery. Others were undergoing CT scans and X-rays and could require surgery later, Kauffman said.

Agencies/Canadajournal