WASHINGTON, April 10 (RIA Novosti) – At least 22 people were injured in a mass stabbing at a high school in the US state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday morning, according to media reports.
A 16-year-old boy wielding two kitchen knives entered the school he attended, the Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville near Pittsburgh, and injured 21 students and a security guard, the Associated Press reported citing police.
At least five students were critically wounded, and one of them may not survive, Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck told reporters, according to CNN.
The suspect was charged as an adult, and faces four counts of attempted homicide, 21 counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a weapon on school grounds.
Police are trying to determine a possible motive for the attack. The district attorney said in court the teen made "statements when subdued by officials that he wanted to die," CNN reported.
According to students at the school, the accused attacker was known to be quiet, keeping largely to himself.
The incident comes 15 months after the mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, which horrified the country. In that incident, 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza shot his mother and 20 children before committing suicide.
Even though many schools throughout the US introduced enhanced security measures after the Sandy Hook incident, gun violence in schools has continued. Last year, 28 shooting incidents were recorded in US schools and colleges that left students wounded and dead, according to the gun control advocacy organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
