A stabbing spree at a popular tubing spot in Wisconsin, which left a teenager dead and another four people wounded, was sparked by a missing cell phone, according to court documents.
Nicolae Miu on Monday was formally charged with one count of first-degree intentional homicide and four counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the bloody incident. During the same hearing, held in St. Croix County, a judge ordered the 52-year-old suspect, of Prior Lake, Minn., be held on $1 million bond.
The violence unfolded on Apple River on Saturday around 4 p.m. Miu had been tubing down the waterway with his wife and several other people that afternoon, but somehow lost his phone along the way. He told authorities he was using a snorkel and goggles to look for missing cellular device when he was accused of approaching children in the water by another group of tubers.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Minnesota Public Radio, witnesses reported Miu “was bothering” a group of juveniles and that several people had asked him to leave.
Instead, Miu allegedly punched a woman, triggering a fight in the river. Video taken on the scene shows him falling into the water, only to re-emerge with a knife he then used to attack someone nearby. At least one other stabbing was captured on camera, according to the complaint.
“There was enough blood in the river that the water turned a red tint in places,” it reads.
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/AP)
Miu was arrested without incident in Somerset, where the tubing waterway comes to an end. In a subsequent interview with law enforcement, he claimed he was provoked and at least two other people involved were armed with knives.
“They attacked me,” he told an investigator, according to the complaint. “I was in self-defense mode.”
A 17-year-old, identified by family as Isaac Schuman, a rising senior at Stillwater High School, was killed in the chaos.
Family members identified Isaac Schuman, 17, of Stillwater, as the boy who was fatally stabbed during a rampage Saturday, July 30, 2022, on the Apple River in Somerset, Wisconsin.
“He had an incredibly bright future ahead of him and we are all heartbroken and devastated beyond words that his future has been tragically and senselessly cut short,” family said in a statement. “We very much appreciate the overwhelming outpouring of love and support from our friends, Isaac’s friends and the Stillwater Community.”
Another four people — two men, ages 20 and 22, from Luck, Wis.; a 22-year-old man from Elk River, Minn.; and a 24-year-old woman from Burnsville, Minn. — were wounded and rushed to area hospitals with “serious to critical injuries,” the sheriff’s office reported.
Two of the men have since been released, Sheriff Scott Knudson said Monday.
Copyright © 2022, New York Daily News
Copyright © 2022, New York Daily News