By now we’ve all heard about the 16-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed 21 students and an adult in a Pennsylvania high school.
The accused teen, Alex Hribal, went to the Murrysville school early Wednesday morning with two kitchen knives. Almost all of the victims who were stabbed later said they didn’t see anyone coming at them, according to CNN.
As far as the media coverage of this stabbing is concerned, there were the usual suspects; changes in the number of students stabbed, speculation quotes from teens who didn’t see much and perpetuation of rumors about the suspect.
That being said, if you want to learn more about the details of the story, Google it. I want to take some time to talk about how all of this media attention is affecting the kids involved, and really any student who goes to Franklin Regional Senior High School.
And by that, I mean the mental health impacts they will be facing with the possible development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The estimated risk for victims of shootings or stabbings developing PTSD is 15.4 percent, according to the PTSD Alliance website.
The school is offering counseling services for the entire school community, but the high school is only closing for a few days. The middle and elementary schools are not closing at all.
I think a few days is not enough to ‘get over’ a fellow classmate, described as shy and quiet, stabbing people. This is perpetuated by the fact that the media will be stalking the high school for more quotes for at least a week. At least.
But hopefully there will be something good that will come out of this attention.
Think for a second about the tragic Newtown shooting, the immense journalistic coverage and how it influenced legislation in Connecticut, putting limitations on firearms and magazines. But in this Murrysville stabbing case, you can’t exactly put limitations on kitchen knives.
This media attention could be a much needed wake-up call for increased security within the public school system, or more awareness of mental health within youth.