A teenager is dead and 4 critically injured after stabbing on river in Wisconsin

By Paradise Afshar and Zoe Sottile, CNN

A 17-year-old boy died Saturday, and four others were wounded when they were stabbed while riding inner tubes down a river in western Wisconsin, according to the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Scott Knudson told CNN multiple witnesses called law enforcement when the stabbing occurred on the Apple River near Somerset, Wisconsin, and the victims and the suspect are believed to have been tubing. The attack happened Saturday afternoon.

“It was a tragic, shocking sight for families floating down the river,” he said.

The victims were tubing with two different groups, with a total of around 20 people, according to CNN affiliate WLUK-TV. The television station reports investigators are still working to determine whether the suspect knew the victims and what led to the stabbing.

Deputies were able to locate a suspect, a 52-year-old man from Minnesota, with the help of a witness who had taken a photograph of the person. WLUK-TV reported the suspect was arrested around an hour and a half after the stabbing while he was leaving the river downstream.

Knudson said the suspect, who has not been identified, is in custody.

A 17-year-old boy from Minnesota died in the stabbing, and a woman and three men — all of whom are believed to be in their 20s — were critically injured. Two of the victims were flown to a hospital in the Minneapolis and two were taken there by ambulance, WLUK-TV said. The names of the victims are also being withheld at this time, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.

Knudson said the Apple River is a popular destination in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area. The attack occurred in a section of the river about 35 miles east of Minneapolis, according to WLUK-TV.

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