A man allegedly stabbed a 17-year-old boy to death and injured four others during an attack while the five individuals were tubing on the Apple River in Wisconsin on Saturday.
St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson said that the suspect, a 52-year-old man from Minnesota, left the scene but was arrested later after a witness identified him at a spot where the tubers exit the river, The New York Times reported.
All four victims who were injured were taken to the hospital in a critical condition, but became stable by Sunday, Knudson said during a press conference Saturday. Those injured include three men and a woman who are all in their early 20s.
The names of the suspect and the victims have not been revealed. Additionally, most of the injuries were to the torso, according to Knudson.
IAN WALDIE/GETTY IMAGES
No details were revealed about the motive behind the stabbings or whether the suspect knew the victims. However, authorities said they believe the victims and the suspect were tubing on the river before the stabbing unfolded, according to the New York Post.
“At this time we’re not sure what started this incident,” Knudson said during the press conference, adding that the stabbings were “chaotic” and “scary.”
Knudson also said tubing is a “main attraction” in the area where the stabbing happened in Somerset, the western Wisconsin town near the Minnesota border, according to the Times.
“I have not seen anything like this to this extent,” he said of the incident. “It’s been a number of years since a stabbing has taken place, maybe 15 years now.”
“I’m sure that anybody who witnessed this will never forget it,” he added. “So it is a tragedy.”
The suspect has not been charged yet but charges might be announced by Monday, according to Knudson who also said that the incident was under investigation throughout Saturday night and that the suspect didn’t have the knife on him when he was arrested.
“We’re actually in the process of trying to divert some of the tubing traffic around our crime scene so that alone is causing some challenges, trying to get them off the river, gathering up what we can in a hard to get to area,” Knudson said.
In a separate stabbing incident, a man allegedly stabbed his wife 30 times after she asked for a divorce on Wednesday, according to the police. The suspect, 60-year-old Clifford Jacobs, was later arrested and allegedly told police that he blacked out after he learned his wife wanted a divorce. Officers said they found five knives and bloody scissors in the man’s apartment.
Newsweek reached out to the St. Croix County Sheriff’s office for additional information and comment.
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