On April 9th, 2014, a Pennsylvania teen rampaged through his high school with two kitchen knives, about 8 to 10 inches long, stabbing anyone that got in his way. It began around 7:15 am and the situation under control by 7:40 pm when the vice principal tackled the teen and the fire alarm was pulled in order to get student to evacuate.

The 16 year old boy, Alex Hribal, is being charged as an adult and faces four counts of attempted homicide and 21 counts of aggravated assault. The attack left 20 teens wounded and one adult injured. None of the victims died, but many had to undergo surgery to fix punctured organs while others received stitches.

He was described by classmates as nice but quiet and teachers say sometimes misunderstood. It is unsure of his motive for the attack but Alex was never bullied and he did not have a large social media presence.

His parents are confused as to why this would happen because he comes from a very loving family. His parents are greatly involved in his life and they say they never saw him angry or upset; especially not several days before the attack.

Authorities are concerned as to what could have led up to such a brutal attack. Stabbing people is much more personal than pointing a gun at someone. With a gun it creates distance between the assaulter and the victim, even a sense of animosity. But, with a knife, the attacker is invading the personal space of the victim and can even feel the victim’s blood get onto their skin. In order to stab 21 people it required a great deal of strength. This description of a knife wielding teen is completely opposite of the description fellow students and teachers gave of Alex.

At this time authorities are still unsure of what exactly the cause of this could be but criminologists say that attacks like these are a sign that someone has a lot of built up anger but since there was no specific target, the cause of this is going to be heavily investigated.