A 17-year-old boy was killed and four others were injured when a man stabbed them Saturday as the group cruised down the Apple River, a Wisconsin sheriff said.
The 52-year-old suspect is from neighboring Minnesota, as was the deceased victim, Cross County Sheriff Scott Knudsen told reporters, including Minneapolis-based NBC affiliate KARE, at a news conference. Saturday. Neither was identified on Saturday.
The four survivors were only described as one woman and three men, all in their twenties. At least three of the victims were hospitalized in critical condition, while a fourth was described as “walking injured”, Knudsen said.
Investigators have not identified the motive for the attack. Knudsen said the suspect and the victims were among different groups of people simultaneously descending the river when the incident happened around 3:45 p.m. Saturday in Somerset, Wisconsin.
“Everyone was hitting the tube,” the sheriff said.
The suspect in custody had left after the knife attack but was found with the help of onlookers, including one who took a photo of the suspect and another who spotted him an hour and a half after the incident , said the sheriff.
The suspect was in the La Croix County Jail awaiting possible charges, Knudsen said.
The suspect was not known to the sheriff’s department, Knudsen said, and such an attack was rare in the area.
“It’s been several years since a stabbing happened,” Knudsen said, “maybe 15 years now.”
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