MURRYSVILLE (KDKA/AP) – At least 24 people have been injured in a stabbing at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville.

The attack occurred in crowded hallways just minutes before the start of school.

Westmoreland County updated the victim count late Wednesday evening, saying 24 people had been injured. (21 students stabbed, 1 security guard stabbed, and 2 others injured)

At least five students were critically wounded, including a boy who was on a ventilator after a knife pierced his liver, missing his heart and aorta by only millimeters, doctors said. An injured school officer was discharged.

A school security guard called in the stabbing at 7:13 a.m.

Witnesses said the boy with the knives at first tackled a freshman and stabbed him in the belly, then got up and ran wildly down the hall, slashing other students.

Nate Moore, 15, said he saw the first attack and was going to try to break it up when the boy got up and slashed his face, requiring 11 stitches.

“It was really fast. It felt like he hit me with a wet rag because I felt the blood splash on my face. It spurted up on my forehead,” he said.

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The attacker “had the same expression on his face that he has every day, which was the freakiest part,” Moore said. “He wasn’t saying anything. He didn’t have any anger on his face. It was just a blank expression.”

KDKA has confirmed that 16-year-old Alex Hribal is the suspect arrested for the stabbings. He is a sophomore at the high school.

He was transported from the Murrysville Police Department by police car, and reportedly taken to a local hospital for superficial wounds, and then returned.

Hribal has now been charged with four counts of attempted homicide, 21 other counts in knife rampage.

Investigators haven’t determined a motive, but Seefeld said they’re looking into reports of a threatening phone call between the suspect and another student the night before. Seefeld didn’t specify whether the suspect reportedly received or made the call.

Michael Float, an 18-year-old senior, 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 who had been stabbed.

Float said he knew who the suspect was but didn’t know him personally. “I heard he’s a very nice kid. I don’t know what drove him to do it,” Float said.

Jeff Dahlke with the security company who provides security for Franklin Regional High School says the suspect was armed with two knives.

Parents of Alex Hribal Speak out about when they found out about stabbing:



“The alarm went off, and students started rushing outside, the security guard outside rushed in, and came upon his supervisor, and a vice principal who had the suspect in custody on the ground and was trying to control him, and try to get the weapons away from him,” Dahlke said.

Police say that security guard was stabbed in the abdomen.

UPMC Presby says a 17-year-old victim is on life support, and in critical condition. Doctors say it appears a large knife was used in the stabbings, causing damage, but missing the teen’s heart.

Two student victims were in critical condition, according to Dr. Mark Rubino of Forbes Medical Center.

The CEO of Forbes Hospital tells KDKA’s Heather Abraham that one-student applied pressure to an injured classmate, possibly saving student’s life.

WATCH: UPDATE ON VICTIMS TAKEN TO HOSPITAL FROM HEATHER ABRAHAM

Several local hospitals report patients were taken to their hospitals. Here is the breakdown of victims.

–8 at Forbes Hospital

–5 at UPMC East

–4 at UPMC Children’s Hospital

–1 at UPMC Mercy

–1 at UPMC Presby

–1 at Allegheny General Hostpital

Five patients had been discharged, including three 15-year-old boys, a 16-year-old girl and an adult, who is believed to be the school officer who suffered only superficial wounds.

Hospital officials say patients range from 15-to-60-years old.