A sixteen year old sophomore went on a stabbing rampage with two knifes at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, a town near Pittsburgh.  The attack occurred before school started in the hallways and classrooms of the first floor.  There were at least 19 students and a security guard that were hurt with life threatening wounds.

The suspect was in custody and being questioned by police.  The sophomore’s motive was unclear.  Because of his age, he has not been charged or identified.  However, the first photo of the suspect came out several hours after the stabbings.  The suspects face had been blurred out by NBC News.

The principal reportedly tackled the stabber because the security guard had been stabbed in the stomach.  There were reports from students about the chaos and panic of the situation as student ran down the hall screaming and yelling that someone was stabbing people.

A doctor at one hospital, UPMC Presbyterian, stated that the stabbing seemed to be done with a long knife.  21 people total were taken to the hospital including the 19 students.  Seven teenage and adult victims were taken to Forbes Regional Hospital where the trauma director, Dr. Chris Kauffman, characterized some of the injuries as life threatening but everyone was expected to live.  The wounds that doctors saw were several inches deep and “impressively large”.

There have been stories emerging of students maintaining amazing composure during the mayhem.  One girl, uninjured, may have saved the life of a victim by applying pressure to his wounds.  Someone pulled a fire alarm and the school principal took the lead in taking the suspect to custody.

Nearby streets were sealed off and the nearby elementary school was canceled for the day.  Students at the high school who drove to school were not allowed to drive home without a parent with them.  A reporter stated that the schools there do not have metal detectors but that they were updating their security procedures and that the city had a low crime rate.

With stories like this in the news, students and staff of schools around the nation are left to wonder how safe their schools are.  Placer High School senior, Cody Guest, states “I don’t think that any school could really be prepared for something like that but I think Placer would handle it the best that they could.”  Madison Nunez, Placer High sophomore agrees, “You can’t prepare for that but I think that Placer is safe because of all the people, all the teachers, that watch over the kids and over the campus.”  Junior, Jordan Wood said, “I think it is safe.  There has never been something crazy.  While I’ve been going here at least.  The teachers are so on top of things.”

Though the general opinion of Placer is it being a safe school, there are doubts “I feel like Placer could be unsafe.  The campus is big so it could be harder to keep an eye on everything that happens,” states Placer High Junior Olivia Joyce.

“I feel like violence like this just happens once a year and the media makes it a huge deal” states Wood.  Guest also agrees that there has not been more violence in schools lately, “I think it is just the news and things that get out that make it seem like a lot.”  Joyce has the same idea about violence in schools, “I don’t think there is more.  I feel like it is more widely publicized now.”

Though some students believe that there is more coverage of violence in schools, Nunez believes differently, “I don’t think there is more.  I think that if there was, there would be more news about it.”

“It’s scary that something like this could happen” states Joyce.  Wood agrees, “It’s horrifying that someone would do something like that.”  Even if the violence does not happen at your school, it still affects you, no matter how far away you are.