Minnesota teen killed and four injured after stabbing at Apple River, suspect in custody
A 17-year-old Minnesota boy was killed and four other people were injured in a stabbing attack while tubing Saturday on the Apple River in Somerset, Wisconsin, according to the St. Croix County sheriff.
Sheriff Scott Knudson said the suspect, a 52-year-old Prior Lake, Minnesota man, was arrested and taken to the St. Croix County Jail.
Somerset, a village of about 2,600 people, is located along the Wisconsin-Minnesota border and is about 30 miles northeast of St. Paul. The Apple River runs through the town and is a popular tubing destination in the summer.
The stabbing occurred about 3:45 p.m. on a section of the river that was not easily accessible to emergency crews, Knudson said in a news conference.
"It took some bit to get upriver," he said.
When authorities did arrive, they found five victims with stab wounds, Knudson said. The suspect had fled the scene.
Using a photo of the man a witness had taken as a reference, sheriff's deputies searched for an hour and a half before several witnesses spotted the man near the river's exit point for tubers. Deputies then arrested him.
They were still looking for the knife Saturday evening. Charges against the man are expected Monday.
Knudson said he did not know what led to the stabbing but said two groups of people were tubing. The suspect was tubing with a group of six to eight people.
There were as many as 20 people between the two groups, Knudson said. Investigators were beginning to interview them as witnesses Saturday evening.
He would not say whether the suspect knew the victims before the stabbing.
"I don't know what to make of it," he said. "It's best for me not to speculate what was the tipping point today."
The sheriff's office on Sunday released some details about the victims but did not name them. All suffered stab wounds to their mid-sections, the sheriff's office said.
The 17-year-old boy who died was from Stillwater, Minnesota, the sheriff's office said. He was pronounced dead at Stillwater's Lakeview Hospital.
The four injured victims were taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, including two who were airlifted for treatment. Their conditions range from serious to critical, according to the sheriff's office, and they were stabbed in the torso and chest.
They are:
a 20-year-old man from Luck, Wisconsin;
a 22-year-old man from Luck;
a 22-year-old man from Elk River, Minnesota;
a 24-year-old woman from Burnsville, Minnesota;
Knudson on Saturday described the attack as "chaotic" and "scary."
"I'm sure that anybody that witnessed this will never forget it," he said.
The sheriff's office is continuing to interview witnesses. Anyone with video of the incident, "prior to or during the event," was asked to contact investigator John Shilts at 715-381-4319 or john.shiltsjr@sccwi.gov.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin sheriff: Five stabbed at Apple River, Minnesota teen dead
