MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — Search warrants unsealed Tuesday in the case against Alex Hribal, the teen suspect accused of stabbing 20 students and a security guard at Franklin Regional High School, reveal what investigators found inside his locker.
According to the warrant, detectives retrieved a Samsung cellphone and a document from the locker titled, “Ragnorok.”
Mulitiple websites describe “Ragnorok” as a Norse legend about the, "destruction of the gods and of all things in a final battle with evil powers."
"I think it's just further evidence that this young boy was further suffering from some mental disability when this occurred," Hribal’s defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said.
The warrant also stated that two students received threatening calls the night before the stabbings. The students said the caller stated he was, “going to [expletive] them up.”
Police said, “Hribal possibly made these calls.”
According to the warrant, forensic examination of the recovered cellphone was ordered and all contents were being analyzed.
Earlier this month, the 16-year-old waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Thomassey said he plans to ask a judge to move the case to juvenile court, where Hribal would face incarceration or probation only until he's 21.
If the case remains in adult court, the former Franklin Regional High School sophomore faces decades in prison if he's convicted.
On Tuesday, Channel 11's Joe Holden asked Thomassey how Alex was doing, and he responded, "He is doing alright."
Holden then asked if Thomassey thinks his client was influenced by any one thing, to which he responded, "I think it's a combination of a number of things."
All the victims have been released from hospitals since the April 9 stabbings, the last one on May 17.
Hribal remains in a juvenile detention center and now that the case has moved to Common Pleas Court, Thomassey can ask a judge to move the case to juvenile court. Online court records show that has yet to occur.
Thomassey must convince a judge that Hribal's prospects of rehabilitation are greater if the case is moved to juvenile court, where there is more emphasis on treating offenders and less on punishment. Thomassey has he would raise the matter of the boy's mental state before a judge determining whether the case moves to juvenile court. If the case isn't moved, Thomassey has said Hribal's mental state should still be considered as part of his criminal defense.
Thomassey has acknowledged Hribal took two eight-inch kitchen knives from his home and began stabbing students who had arrived at the school in Murrysville, about 15 miles east of Pittsburgh, but had yet to begin their first class of the day.
Hribal faces 21 counts each of aggravated assault and attempted homicide, because police and county prosecutors said Hribal told those who disarmed him that day — and related in a note found in his locker — that he intended to kill his victims. Hribal also faces a charge of bringing illegal weapons to school.
Thomassey has suggested that Hribal may have bullied before the attacks, but has not commented on specific evidence or incidents to support that. Murrysville police Chief Thomas Seefeld has said investigators haven't uncovered any evidence of bullying, but he could not be reached for updated comment Monday.
"The prosecution doesn't have to give me anything yet. At a certain point, I'll file a motion for discovery, and this material will be given to our mental health experts so that we can best defend him," Thomassey said.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck declined comment on Hribal's decision to waive the hearing.
Hribal next faces formal arraignment July 23 in Common Pleas Court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.