Southwood Psychiatric Hospital: We Will Not Treat Student Accused of Stabbing Rampage

Southwood Psychiatric Hospital says the refusal is due to security concerns. The state is now looking into other options for treatment.
Published: October 2, 2014

A mental health facility in Allegheny County says it will not treat the Franklin Regional student accused of trying to kill 20 of his classmates during a knife rampage in April. The hospital had security concerns.

District Attorney John Peck said Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Upper St. Clair told him the hospital was not a forensic facility and was not secure. As a result, it would not be able to treat 16-year-old Alex Hribal who has been held without bond at Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center since his arrest on April 9, reports TribeLive.

Hribal is charged 21 counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault. He is also charged with having a weapon on school property, for stabbing or slashing 20 students and a security guard. Hribal is being charged as an adult and after a four hour hearing last week, Judge Chris Feliciani ruled Hribal should receive inpatient mental health treatment.

Two doctors for the defense testified that Hribal suffers from schizophrenia and that he was obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and expected to die in his own attack. The doctors said Hribal is depressed and suicidal and that he needs mental health treatment not offered in the detention center. Prosecutors opposed this stance.

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Judge Feliciani says he will continue to look for alternative facilities to treat Hriber.

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