Franklin Regional H.S. Victims Recovering At Local Hospitals
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- At least 20 people were injured in Wednesday morning's stabbing rampage at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville.
The victims, mostly students, were taken to hospitals all over the Pittsburgh area.
Twenty-two of victims were stabbed, including 21 students and the one security guard. Two others were injured by other means.
KDKA's John Shumway Reports:
Here's the very latest on their conditions:
- A 17-year-old boy is on life support at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.
- Three teenagers are in the ICU at Forbes Hospital.
- Also at Forbes, four teenagers are in stable condition and one adult was treated and released.
- Children's Hospital has five patients. Two are in fair condition and three others are in good condition.
- At UPMC Mercy and UPMC East, six people have all been treated and discharged.
Many of the injured were taken to nearby Forbes Hospital.
"The blade was more than an inch wide and whether it was an inch, inch and a half, two inches, I can't really say, but the holes were large," said Dr. Chris Kaufmann, the chief trauma surgeon at Forbes Hospital.
KDKA's John Shumway Reports:
"They were all knife wounds, most of them were to the lower abdomen, and they seemed to actually almost have a pattern," said Dr. Mark Rubino, Forbes Hospital's medical director. "Most of them were to the right lower abdomen and the right flank, and that created the criticality of the wounds and the nature of their injuries."
The three most critically stabbed arrived at Forbes Hospital with significant bleeding.
Dr. Rubino says one boy got a lot of help from a student who has now been identified as Gracey Evans.
"Well, she displayed an amazing amount of composure to really help that friend who was having probably pretty significant bleeding at that point," said Dr. Rubino, "and the pressure that she applied probably played a significant role in his ability to survive this."
One 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds came through hours of surgery to repair organs and damaged blood vessels, but they're not out of the woods yet.
"The fact that they are in the ICU lets us know that there is some concern for how well they are going to do and how long they are going to be in the hospital," said Dr. Kaufmann.
KDKA's Paul Martino Reports:
Several of the other victims were rushed to Pittsburgh hospitals by medical helicopter and ambulance.
Joanne Witkowski's nephew, Brandon Brown, is one of the stabbing victims.
"He was he was stabbed in the lower abdomen and LifeFlighted here," said Witkowski from just outside Children's Hospital. "The message that he would like to share is that he really wants some justice, and that we need to try to prevent these tragedies.
At UPMC Presby, a 17-year-old young man is probably the most severely injured.
He's on life support. Doctors say he's lucky to be alive.
"He had injuries to his liver, diaphragm, major blood vessels between the chest and abdomen," said Dr. Louis Alarcon, a trauma surgeon. "Fortunately, for this young man, the knife missed his heart and aorta."
KDKA's Paul Martino Reports:
And while trauma teams train and prepare for tragedies like this one, they never expect it.
"It's an extraordinarily unusual situation," said Dr. Steve Docimo, of Children's Hospital. "I can't remember even hearing about a situation like this, a mass stabbing."
RELATED LINKS:
20 Injured In Stabbing At Franklin Regional High School (4/9/14)
16-Year-Old Suspect In Custody After Franklin Regional H.S. Stabbing (4/9/14)
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