probably felt that they needed to throw the book at him publically to get him out of the limelight then they will drop the charges later on once the next new story hits. If they did NOT charge him hard then that would be the next news story itself. The kid is a minor too, they may be charging him that what to make sure he can be held away from other inmates. Pretty obviously self-defense though so far, unless a video comes out of him stabbing someone before the gunfire started lol