Alex Hribal: FBI Seizes Computers, Gaming Consoles, iPods From Home of Franklin Regional HS Stabbing Suspect

Alex Hribal: FBI Seizes Computers, Gaming Consoles, iPods From Home of Franklin Regional HS Stabbing Suspect
Alex Hribal, the suspect in the multiple stabbings at the Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pa., is escorted by police to a district magistrate to be arraigned on Wednesday, April 9, 2014, in Export, Pa. Authorities say Hribal has been charged with allegedly stabbing and slashing 21 students and a police officer in the crowded halls of his suburban Pittsburgh high school Wednesday. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Zachary Stieber
4/16/2014
Updated:
4/16/2014

FBI agents seized a number of devices from the home of Alex Hribal, the suspect in the Franklin Regional High School mass stabbing, including computers, iPods, an iPad, and gaming consoles.

Agents descended upon the home after Hribal was identified as the suspect and arrested after 22 people were stabbed last week at the school outside of Pittsburgh.

Agents also took Hribal’s cellphone from his locker and a Chicago Cutlery holder with two knives missing and a notebook with writing in it from his home.

Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld confirmed to broadcaster 4News that the FBI is examining the phone and trying to get evidence.

Paperwork filed in the case also says that Hribal, 16, is believed to have made threatening phone calls to two fellow students before going to the school and stabbing 21 students and a security guard on April 9.

“The caller is believed to be the actor because of the subsequent conduct of the actor coming to school and attacking numerous individuals,” the affidavit says.

On the other hand, Hribal’s attorney Patrick Tomassey insists that Hribal didn’t have a cellphone. 

Mia Meixner, 16, said the initial assault touched off a “stampede of kids” yelling, “Run! Get out of here! Someone has a knife!”

Meixner and Moore called the attacker a shy boy who largely kept to himself, but they said he was not an outcast and they saw no indication he might be violent.

“He was never mean to anyone, and I never saw people be mean to him,” Meixner said. “I never saw him with a particular group of friends.”

During the attack, the boy had a “blank look,” she said. “He was just kind of looking like he always does, not smiling, not scowling or frowning.”

Michael Float, 18, said he had just gotten to school when he saw “blood all over the floor” and smeared on the wall near the main entrance. Then he saw a wounded student.

“He had his shirt pulled up and he was screaming, ‘Help! Help!’” Float said. “He had a stab wound right at the top right of his stomach, blood pouring down.”

Float said he saw a teacher applying pressure to the wound of another student.

About five minutes elapsed between the time the campus police officer summoned help over the radio at 7:13 a.m. and the boy was disarmed, the police chief said.

Meanwhile, on April 16, a group of students injured in the attack returned to school for the first time.

Before school began, some students gathered at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday on the football field behind Franklin Regional High School to pray and to support one another.

After that, as day broke and other students drove to school — or were driven on buses or by their parents — they were greeted by well-wishers from a nearby church who were holding signs of support saying things like “Courage” and “It’s a new day.”

Karen Ingersoll said she has two children who graduated from the school and two daughters still attend it.

“I think they were ready to go back,” Ingersoll said, though she acknowledged there’s more healing to come.

“My youngest can’t sleep alone yet, she’s still sleeping with her sister — she was a witness” to some of the attacks, Ingersoll said.

School and public safety officials have been steadily working toward getting things back to normal, said Dan Stevens, spokesman for the Westmoreland County emergency management department.

On Monday, teachers met with a crisis intervention specialist before spending the day at the school getting re-acclimated to their surroundings. On Tuesday, parents and students were invited to an open house of sorts where they were able to tour the building, which had to be cleaned after the bloody attack. Members of the community gathered at a park Tuesday night for a prayer service.

Students at the middle and elementary schools, which share a campus with the high school, returned to classes a day after the attack, Stevens said, adding that, since then, the focus has been on returning things to normal at the high school.

“Getting back to school today is going to be a very good thing for them,” Stevens said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.