A 17-year-old from Minnesota was killed and four others are in critical condition after a stabbing rampage at a town’s favorite tubing spot. The 52-year-old Minnesota man accused of the act is in custody.
St. Croix County Sheriff says the suspect in the stabbing at Apple River, Wisconsin had initially fled the scene but was caught by authorities. He appeared in court where his bail was set.
You can see local news coverage here:
The suspect is Nicolae Miu, who was charged with first-degree homicide, mayhem and aggravated battery. Miu claimed to have acted in self-defense during his court appearance.
The incident began with a lost phone. A member of Miu’s party dropped their phone in the water and he went to look for it.
According to Sondra Miu, wife of the suspect, Miu claims to have been taunted by a group of teens who called him a pedophile and took Miu’s pocketknife to attack him.
However, video footage and eyewitness accounts showed otherwise.
Witnesses told authorities Miu was bothering another group, one made up of young people. The group eventually called for help from another group passing by.
They said Miu started attacking a young woman. Another member of the group struck Miu back to get him to stop.
This is when he pulled out his pocketknife and started stabbing multiple individuals who were near him.
The video evidence does show Miu being taunted by someone saying he was “looking for little girls” but the rest of the video contradicts Miu’s version of events and the version his wife said he told her.
After being taunted, Miu pulled out his pocketknife.
This is contrary to what he told his wife—one of his taunters took it from him—and what he told police—he got the knife from one of his alleged assailants.
After “punching or slapping” a young woman in the other group, Miu was shoved and knocked backwards by a tuber in yellow trunks. When Miu gets back up, he takes out his knife and stabs the tuber in the abdomen.
After this, his stabbing spree began.
Four victims were hospitalized with multiple stab wounds. One victim, 17-year-old Isaac Schuman, did not survive the encounter. He was an honor roll student about to begin his senior year of high school.
After news of the stabbing broke, people went to Miu’s Facebook page and found his interests ranged from guns and the second amendment to support for Donald Trump, MAGA and Blue Lives Matter.
Which to some commenters, was expected.
At his hearing, Miu’s bail was set at one million dollars, with his next hearing set for later this month.
If convicted, he could face life in prison.
