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XPost: sac.politics

In article <t2horf$3klmc$107@news.freedyn.de>
<governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:

Everyone should have a big knife.

A Prior Lake man stabbed a 17-year-old Stillwater boy to death
and wounded four other people during a physical confrontation
between him and several others at the Apple River, a popular
tubing destination in western Wisconsin, according to charges
filed Monday.

Nicolae Miu, 52, appeared via video connection Monday afternoon
in St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson and was ordered held
in lieu of $1 million cash bond after being charged with first-
degree homicide and four counts of attempted first-degree
homicide.

The case leans heavily on a video recorded Saturday afternoon by
a man in a group of tubers, some of whom shoved Miu and accused
him of looking for girls, the criminal complaint read. After a
few minutes, Miu allegedly killed Isaac Schuman with a stab
wound to his upper abdomen, while four others in their 20s were
less seriously wounded.

Questioned by law enforcement after his arrest, Miu said he
acted in self-defense as several people came at him while he was
looking for a cellphone that was lost by a friend. He said some
of them "produced two weapons," hit him and were on top of him
at one point while calling him a child molester.

"They attacked me, [and] I was in self-defense mode," the
charges quoted him as saying. Once he saw someone with a knife,
he continued, "I thought that was it for me." He added that he
didn't remember stabbing anyone, and only had a knife with him
earlier in the day to cut the string that held their tubes
together.

Told of the teen's death, Miu said, "Oh, no," the charges read.

Should Miu post bail, he would have to maintain "absolute
sobriety" and possess no weapons, Judge Michael Waterman said.

Miu, handcuffed at the wrists and in orange prison garb, sat
quietly in a room at the jail under the watch of sheriff's
deputies during his first appearance. A copy of the criminal
complaint sat on a table before him. He responded "yes, sir" to
questions from the judge about his identity and other routine
matters.

During the hearing, prosecutor Erica Ellenwood requested a
$500,000 cash bond. Ellenwood acknowledged that Miu has no
criminal record but noted that he does not reside in the county
and conviction of killing Schuman could result in a life prison
sentence.

Defense attorney Jeremiah Harrelson argued for bond of $50,000.
He pointed out that Miu owns his home, is his family's sole wage
earner, works as a mechanical engineer and has lived in the Twin
Cities area since 1993.

Harrelson called the incident "an unanticipated, random
encounter on the river. ... Something went wrong on the river,
and it escalated into some unfortunate, very unfortunate,
consequences."

The judge scheduled a hearing for Friday to discuss his legal
representation to be followed by another hearing on Aug. 12.

The Apple River has long been a major summertime attraction for
Twin Cities residents.

The victims and Miu were all tubing down the river around 3:45
p.m., Sheriff Scott Knudson said. The attack happened just
upstream from the Hwy. 35/64 bridge in Somerset Township, close
to the Minnesota border and northeast of Stillwater.

According to the criminal complaint:

Miu ran up to several people and grabbed their tubes, a video
recording of the encounter provided to law enforcement revealed.
People in the group yelled at Miu to "get away."

Miu walked around as if appearing to be looking for something,
started to leave before turning around and saying something.
More people converged on him and yelled for him to leave. He
walked toward a woman, and people were heard saying "he was
looking for little girls."

The crowd grew larger, and "it does appear that at least one
person touched his shoulder" as people were on three sides of
Miu at varying distances. Miu had the "opportunity ... to leave
the confrontation," but did not, the complaint said.

While two women confronted him, Miu held a knife at his side
with the blade exposed. Multiple people moved toward Miu and he
fell backward into the water and was slapped in the face.

Miu got back on his feet and was shoved from behind by someone
in swimming trunks who came at him again. Miu then stabbed the
person wearing the trunks in the abdomen "while being shoved
back in the water on his back."

As Miu stood up again, the shoving of Miu continued, and he
responded with more stabbing motions and ran off.

Miu's wife, Sondra Miu, told law enforcement that she and her
husband went to the river with two friends to ride tubes. She
said her husband left the group to look for a cellphone that one
of them had lost.

She said she saw people get off their tubes and start hitting
him, but she did not see anything else. She said Miu told her
that people grabbed the knife from him and swung it at him, and
that they were accusing him of being a pedophile before
attacking him.

Sondra Miu said she didn't think her husband "was there long
enough to harm anyone," the charges read.

The surviving victims were all hospitalized in stable condition,
ranging from serious to critical injuries to their torso or
chest, Sunday's statement from the Sheriff's Office read. They
include two men from Luck, Wis., one 20 and the other 22 years
old; a 24-year-old woman from Burnsville, and a 22-year-old man
from Elk River. Officials have yet to disclose their identities.

Knudson said Monday afternoon that the two victims from Luck
have since been released from the hospital.

The woman from Burnsville is Ryhley Mattison, who explained on a
GoFundMe page on her behalf that "some friends and I were tubing
when we came [across] a group who were asking for our help. My
friends and I went over to see what was going on, and there was
an older man there being inappropriate and was asked to leave
but wouldn't. The older man ended up having a knife and stabbed
a few friends of mine and myself included."

The sheriff said, "Thank goodness a witness had taken a photo of
[the suspect]. Another witness located him at the exit of the
tubing area, where he was taken into custody. We don't know yet
who was connected to who, who knew each other or what
precipitated it. It's a tragic day."

In response to the attack, the tubing services operator closed
for the day Sunday but resumed business Monday.

Saturday was "a difficult and tragic day on the river," a
Facebook posting Sunday from River's Edge Campground read. "Tens
of thousands of visitors annually ... have enjoyed floating the
river with family and friends. Yesterday, an act of violence
shattered that serenity."

The stabbing attack was a shock to longtime Apple River worker
Chuck Ennis, who for 40 years has helped people park their cars
before tubing. He sometimes drives one of the buses that ferry
people to and from the water. He said Monday that he's sure he
must have helped the victims park their car before they started
tubing, and his daughter told him she remembers meeting Isaac
Schuman, who died in the attack.

"She remembers talking to him because they struck up a little
conversation," said Ennis.

After the attack, law enforcement shut down the river, and Ennis
and his daughter drove buses ferrying people back to their cars.

"I've personally been doing this for 40 years and never, ever
seen anything even close to this," he said.

He said he expects people to stay away from the river for now,
maybe even for the rest of the season. His business on Monday
was down significantly, with five groups on the river by
lunchtime. Normally he'd have many more people out, he said.

"One thing that bothers me more than anything, is how one person
can ruin something so badly. It's got to the point where it's
time to stop this madness," he said.

Schuman was an incoming senior at Stillwater High School. A
GoFundMe has been set up to benefit his family.

Star Tribune staff writer Matt McKinney contributed to this
report.

https://www.startribune.com/charges-could-come-monday-in-fatal- stabbing-of-teen-while-tubing-on-apple-river/600194716/

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