Teen seeks to plead guilty in stabbings

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

A teen charged with slashing and stabbing 20 fellow students and a security guard at a Pennsylvania high school wants to plead guilty but mentally ill.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported that Alex Hribal’s attorney filed the document Friday. Hribal is 18 but was just 16 during the April 2014 rampage at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville.

Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey has never denied Hribal committed the attacks using two 8-inch kitchen knives from his home, but has argued it was fueled by the defendant’s mental health issues. But a judge must agree that Hribal was mentally ill in order to allow the plea.

Thomassey didn’t immediately return a call for comment, and Westmore-land County District Attorney John Peck won’t say if he’ll oppose the move.