- A pair of women walk arm-in-arm off the campus of the Franklin Regional School District, where several people were stabbed at Franklin Regional High School on Wednesday in Murrysville, Pa., near Pittsburgh. The suspect, a male student, was taken into custody and being questioned. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Matt Provenzo, city editor for the Valley News Dispatch, may have been among the first journalists on the scene Wednesday morning, after a student stabbed 20 other students at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Penn.
“He had to be,” said Jeff Domenick, editor of the Valley News Dispatch in a phone interview with Poynter. “He’s just being a parent, dropping his kid off and he sees what’s going on.”
Provenzo called Domenick as soon as he realized there’d been a stabbing, “and I told him, ‘Stay there and pull out your notebook.'”
Provenzo’s been reporting and shooting photos there since.
Valley News Dispatch City Editor Matt Provenzo described a chaotic scene shortly after 7 a.m. as he was dropping his son off at the high school. “When we got here, we saw a girl lying face down across the street who was being assisted by teachers and students.”
Provenzo said the school was being evacuated as he arrived.
Provenzo continues reporting, working with reporters from sister papers, as the number of injuries grows. His own son is safe, Domenick said.
“He’s probably switched into reporter mode.”
In December of last year, Poynter wrote about how The Denver Post newsroom covered the Arapahoe High School shootings, 14 years after covering the Columbine High School shootings. In December of 2012, Poynter wrote about how The Newtown Bee covered the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.
