Stabbings on Wisconsin River Kill 17-Year-Old, Injure 4

Water Recovery authorities comb the Apple River with metal detectors after five people were stabbed while tubing down the river in Somerset, Wis., on July 30, 2022. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Authorities reported that a Minnesota boy died, and four others were critically injured after being stabbed while tubing down a Wisconsin river.

According to St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson, the victims and suspect, a 52-year-old male from Prior Lake, Minnesota, were all on the Apple River on Saturday afternoon when the attack occurred. Knudson stated that authorities attempted to determine what precipitated the stabbings and whether the victims and suspect were acquainted. They were tubing with two groups of approximately 20 people each.

Knudson stated, "We do not yet know who was connected to whom, who knew each other, or what precipitated it."

The knife attack occurred on a difficult-to-access stretch of river near Somerset, Wisconsin, some 35 miles east of Minneapolis. Half an hour later, the culprit was apprehended while exiting the river downstream.

Knudson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Thank goodness a witness took a photo of him." Another witness identified him at the exit of the tubing area, where he was apprehended.


A teenager from Stillwater, Minnesota, has passed away. Two further patients were transported by helicopter to a hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, while two others were sent by ambulance. On Sunday, the sheriff's office reported that all four surviving victims, a lady and three men in their 20s, were in serious to critical condition. They were stabbed in the chest and midsection.

The sheriff's office did not identify the victims but provided some information about them. The casualties comprised two men aged 20 and 22 from Luck, Wisconsin, a guy aged 22 from Elk River, Minnesota, and a woman aged 24 from Burnsville, Minnesota;

St. Croix County jail records indicate a 52-year-old male was being held without bond on suspicion of first-degree homicide, four aggravated battery charges, and four mayhem counts. The suspect's identity was not immediately disclosed.

Publish : 2022-08-01 08:28:00

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