Psych hospital nixes teen school stabbing suspect

UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. (AP) — A Pittsburgh-area psychiatric hospital has refused to treat a 16-year-old boy awaiting trial on charges he stabbed 20 fellow students and a security guard at his western Pennsylvania high school in April.

Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Upper St. Clair determined over the weekend that they had security and other concerns about treating Alex Hribal of Murrysville.

A county judge on Friday had ordered that Hribal be moved from a juvenile detention center to a secure mental health facility where he could be treated for what defense experts say is the early stages of schizophrenia. A prosecution doctor recommended Hribal stay in juvenile detention and have a doctor brought in to treat him.

Hribal’s attorney was continuing to search for an alternative facility today.