Classmate Calls Pa. High School Stabbing Suspect 'Misunderstood'
A classmate of Alex Hribal, the 16-year-old accused of stabbing 22 people at Franklin Regional High School on Wednesday, described him as "misunderstood," adding that he had a "disturbing twist" about him.
Morgan Ritchey said she had two classes with Hribal and sat in front of him in Spanish class. She said they spoke a couple of times but always about school-related things. She would compare answers with him and pass his test scores back to him, and said he was sort-of nerdy, studied a lot and that his test scores were "pretty good."
She also said he was quiet and didn't have a lot of friends.
"I always thought that he was nice and a little misunderstood, but I also had this disturbing twist about him … I just always felt like he had a different side to him that nobody knew and it was like hard to uncover," said Ritchey.
Although Ritchey said she didn't see Hribal stab anyone, she saw him holding one of the knives, which she described as about 6-inches long, having a black handle and a "super-long blade."
"I was running out - I was right behind the kid with the knife and I didn't realize it because he was just like walking … he didn't look like he was trying to stab anybody," she said.
![](http://a.abcnews.go.com/images/US/AP_alex_hribal_sr_140409_16x9_608.jpg)
Alex Hribal, the suspect in the multiple stabbings at the Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pa., is escorted by police, April 9, 2014, in Export, Pa. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photo)
Ritchey said news of the stabbings sent panic through the hallways of the Murrysville, Pa., high school.
"It went from like normal day to complete disaster," she said. "Everyone was so scared about what just happened and we had no idea what was going on."
Ritchey said she saw a teacher helping a student who had been stabbed in the stomach. The student's hand was bloodied from applying pressure to the wound.
"Then there was my other friend guiding him through what to do," she said. "It was really scary."