Wisconsin river stabbing rampage: Charges expected after teen killed while tubing, 4 others seriously wounded

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Formal charges are expected to come on Monday for a 52-year-old man accused of going on a stabbing spree at a popular recreational tubing destination on a Wisconsin river over the weekend, killing a 17-year-old boy and seriously wounding four other people who were rushed to area hospitals. 

An incoming senior at Stillwater High School, 17-year-old Isaac Schuman, is dead following the violent episode that unfolded at approximately 3:47 p.m. Saturday while out tubing on an area of the Apple River that runs through Somerset Township, in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, near the Minnesota border. 

Deputies responded to a 911 call about several people having been stabbed and a suspect, believed to have been armed with knife, having fled the scene. 

Thankfully, St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson said a witness had snapped a photo of the accused attacker, and other witnesses spotted him about an hour and half later near the river’s exit point for tubers. The suspect, identified so far as a 52-year-old man from Prior Lake, Minnesota, was arrested and has been held at St. Croix County Jail since Saturday. 

WISCONSIN STABBING LEAVES FOUR INJURED AND ONE DEAD; SUSPECT IN CUSTODY: POLICE 

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

Authorities did not immediately release his name pending formal charges, and Knudson said whether and/or how the parties of tubers knew each other and what prompted the man’s violent outburst that erupted just upstream from the STH 35/64 bridge, near Mile Post #9, remains under investigation. 

"We don't know yet who was connected to who, who knew each other or what precipitated it," Knudson said at a press conference. "It's a tragic day."

If the 52-year-old is charged on Monday, St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson said his initial court appearance would be held at 1 p.m. local time, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. 

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

An update provided Sunday by the sheriff's department said the four surviving victims were all in stable condition and their injuries ranged from serious to critical wounds to their torso and chest areas. So far, they have been identified as a 20-year-old male from Luck, Wisconsin, a 22-year-old male from Luck, Wisconsin, a 24-year-old female from Burnsville, Minnesota, and a 22-year-old male from Elk River, Minnesota. 

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Two of the victims were flown to Regions Hospital in St. Paul following the incident, while another two were taken by ambulance to the same hospital. Schuman was transported by ambulance to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, Minnesota, where he was pronounced dead.