SOMERSET, Wis. — A 52-year-old Minnesota man is facing a host of charges in connection with a mass stabbing that killed a 17-year-old boy and wounded four others on Wisconsin’s Apple River on Saturday afternoon.
St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson identified the suspect as Nicolae Miu from Prior Lake, Minnesota, WISN-TV reported.
According to WCCO-TV, Miu was charged Monday afternoon with first-degree intentional homicide and four counts of attempted first-degree homicide.
NEW: Prosecutors unveil five charges, including first degree intentional homicide (murder) against Nicolae Miu, suspect in Apple Valley mass stabbing on tubing trip. Miu, 52, will shortly make first court appearance in St. Croix, WI before a packed courtroom. @WCCO @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/GKMnrUG7g7
— Jonah Kaplan (@JonahPKaplan) August 1, 2022
The five victims, who range in age from 17 to 24, hailed from Wisconsin and Minnesota and all sustained stab wounds to their chests and torsos. A representative from Stillwater High School confirmed Sunday that the 17-year-old boy killed was a student at the Minnesota school, the TV station reported.
Knudson told WISN that investigators are working to establish a motive for the mass attack and to determine if the victims and suspect knew each other because two different tubing groups comprised of about 20 people were involved.
“We don’t know yet who was connected to who, who knew each other or what precipitated it,” the sheriff said.
According to the TV station, the stabbings occurred on a tricky section of the river near the town of Somerset, Wisconsin, which is about 35 miles east of Minneapolis. Miu was arrested about an hour and a half later while exiting the river downstream.
Two of the other victims were airlifted to an area hospital, while two others were taken by ambulance. The sheriff’s office identified three of the four surviving victims as 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, WISN reported.
Miu was described in Monday’s hearing as an engineer who designs cooling systems, and his attorney classified Saturday’s incident as a “chance encounter.” His bail was set at $1 million, twice the amount requested by prosecutors, WCCO reported.
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