A 17-year-old boy was killed and four others wounded in a stabbing attack Saturday afternoon on a Wisconsin river near the Minnesota border. A suspect has been arrested.
The attack was reported at about 3:45 p.m. on the Apple River in the town of Somerset, Wisconsin, according to CBS Minnesota.
In a news briefing, St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson said deputies were dispatched to the Apple River to find five people with knife wounds.
A 17-year-old Minnesota boy died of his wounds, Knudson said. His name was not immediately released.
Four others are in stable condition with injuries to their torso and chest areas ranging from serious to critical, the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. The four surviving victims were described as a 20-year-old man from Luck, Wisconsin; a 22-year-old man from Luck, Wisconsin; a 22-year-old man from Elk River, Minnesota; and a 24-year-old woman from Burnsville, Minnesota.
A witness at the scene snapped a photo of the suspect, Knudson said, and about 90 minutes after the attack, a 52-year-old Minnesota man was located and arrested. However, he was not in possession of a knife when he was taken into custody, and investigators are still searching for the knife used in the stabbings, Knudson confirmed.
“We believe that is the sole person of our investigation, but again this is a very fluid investigation, that could change, but we believe it is one suspect, one subject,” Knudson said.
It’s unclear what precipitated the attack. The suspect was tubing with a group of six to eight people, while the victims were tubing with a different group, Knudson disclosed.
“They were all tubing, and appeared to be simultaneously going down with those two groups,” Knudson said.
The suspect, whose name was not disclosed, has been booked into St. Croix County Jail, Knudson said, and could face charges as early as Monday.
