Teacher James Passarelli was trying desperately to keep a stabbed Franklin Regional student alive on the floor of his science classroom on the day Alex Hribal was charged with going on a violent rampage with two kitchen knives at the school.
Derek Jones, then a 17-year-old junior, wasn't moving, and a pool of blood was forming around him, Passarelli testified through tears Tuesday at a hearing to determine whether charges against Hribal should be moved from adult to juvenile court.
“His eyes opened, and I felt a sense of relief initially,” the teacher said in Westmoreland County Court. “And I didn't know what to do. I don't have any medical training.”
Elsewhere in the classroom, two badly injured students allegedly stabbed by Hribal, now 18, at the Murrysville school on April 9, 2014, were being tended to by classmates.
The teacher said he felt “such a sense of helplessness, because they're asking me what to do, and I didn't know.”
“It seemed like it went on for days,” he said. “I remember just hoping that somebody was going to come in to help.”
Passarelli recounted the horror in his classroom during a pretrial motion hearing before Judge Christopher Feliciani, who will decide whether Hribal's criminal case will remain in adult court, where he could be sentenced to prison. The defense is requesting that the teen be adjudicated delinquent, the equivalent of guilty in the juvenile court system, where he couldn't be held past his 21st birthday.
Hribal is accused of stabbing and slashing 20 classmates and a security guard in a first-floor hallway at the school. Four students, including Jones, who lost a kidney in the attack, were seriously injured. Hribal is being charged as an adult with 21 counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
Testimony from Hribal's treatment team and attack witnesses had been heard on June 22 before the hearing was continued Tuesday. Feliciani ordered that attorneys submit written legal briefs, after which he will make a ruling. About nine hours of testimony was heard during the two hearings. About 40 spectators were in court Tuesday.
Hribal is being treated for depression and psychosis at the Westmoreland County jail, where he is being held without bail. He had been held from his arrest until his 18th birthday on Oct. 1 at the Regional Youth Services Center in Hempfield.
Feliciani last month denied a request by defense attorney Patrick Thomassey that bail be set for Hribal. Thomassey said the teen was entitled to bail because he has no prior criminal record, is not charged with murder and would stay at home with his parents.
In his refusal, Feliciani pointed to a four-page essay written by the suspect — titled “Ragnarok” — that was found in Hribal's backpack on the day of the attack, which the judge said showed a “calculated and well-thought-out plan.”
The essay, written on April 6, 2014, indicated Hribal's obsession with the Columbine High School killers and dissatisfaction with school and society.
Psychiatrist Bruce Wright testified for prosecutors that he has concerns that Hribal could have a relapse because the teen reported last month having episodes of depression, as well as homicidal and suicidal thoughts.
“It's my feeling that these persistent symptoms may be difficult to treat,” Wright said. “Alex has an illness that has a significant risk of relapse.”
Wright testified that he is concerned that Hribal is not “completely forthcoming” with members of his treatment team, making for inconsistencies in various reports about the teen's mental health.
“He's provided an inconsistent history of psychotic symptoms to different people at different times,” Wright said.
The defense has previously argued through the testimony of five experts that Hribal is amenable to treatment and would be better served in the juvenile system.
Several witnesses testified about the attack and how it has affected their lives — many expressing that they would like Hribal to end up jailed after trial in adult court.
Assistant Principal Joan Mellon recounted running toward sounds of screams and finding three teachers with wounded students in their classrooms.
“I remember looking at them and telling them I was going for help,” Mellon said.
But she didn't get very far before she ran into Hribal on the hall floor being restrained by Assistant Principal Sam King and Jay Resetar, a security guard.
“I saw the knives, and I just thought, ‘I have to get them,' ” Mellon said. “I remember yelling at him to let go, and I remember him saying that he needed to die.”
Mellon wrested the bloody knives away and secured them in her office, she testified.
“He was looking at us, but I don't believe he actually saw me,” Mellon said. “He was not present. I just remember looking and thinking ‘I can't get through to him.' ”
Two learning support aides testified that they saw Hribal attack students.
Amy Von Geis watched an emotionless Hribal wildly swinging his arms into a group of students exiting the library after the teen pulled a fire alarm, she testified.
Von Geis hurried then-15-year-old Matthew Seligman outside and applied pressure to his lower back wound, she testified.
Joyce Skena was pushing a cart through the hallway when Hribal stabbed then-16-year-old Jeff LaSalle through the right forearm, she testified. The pair and a group of students fled into a nearby classroom, where she tended to the teen's wound.
Monica Carolla testified that her daughter, Julianna, then 17, has permanent damage to her right hand from a wound suffered in the attack.
While more than 19 months have passed, some faculty members still have flashbacks caused by witnessing the attack, Mellon said. Witnesses reported having difficulty seeing or using kitchen knives, while others testified that even something like a student running down the school hall can trigger disturbing memories.
“The teachers who were in that hallway and the teachers who came to help ... were some of the bravest people I know,” Mellon testified. “It's not like we work in a different place. We work exactly there.”
Renatta Signorini is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-837-5374 or rsignorini@tribweb.com.
