15-year-old in custody after boy, 13, dies in stabbing

WAUSAU – A 13-year-old boy died late Friday after being stabbed twice in the back during a confrontation triggered by social media messages, police say.

The suspect, a 15-year-old Wausau boy, is in custody.

The stabbing occurred at about 5:40 p.m. Friday on the roadway in the 900 block of Jefferson Street after a group of six to seven boys, ages 13 to 16, confronted another group with a BB gun over an argument on social media, Wausau Police Detective Greg Hagenbucher said.

Hagenbucher said at about 5:30 p.m. Friday, the boys got out of a car parked in the 700 block of Jefferson Street and confronted four other boys, ages 15 to 16, on the front porch of a home on the 900 block of Jefferson Street.

"They fired the BB gun a couple of times into the people on the porch, who then spilled into the street, and a fight began between several of these juveniles and a 13-year-old boy was stabbed in the back twice," Hagenbucher said.

The boy who was stabbed was driven to the hospital by an adult female who was the sister of one of the boys involved in the altercation, Hagenbucher said. She also was the person who called 911.

Read more:Neighbors shocked, saddened by stabbing death

Hagenbucher said police have talked to the woman, who was not involved in the fight, and said she "may not have had knowledge of what was going to take place there."

He said authorities are not releasing her name or the names of any of the boys involved. The boys are students at Wausau East and Wausau West high schools and Horace Mann Middle School.

Hagenbucher said police have recovered both the BB gun and the knife they say was used to commit the crime, a 10- to 12-inch long kitchen knife, "possibly a chef's knife," with about an 8-inch long blade.

The boy died from his injuries at Aspirus Wausau Hospital. Hagenbucher said an autopsy is being performed Saturday in Madison.

Several of the boys told police they claimed to be juvenile gang members and they "had been arguing back and forth on the Internet and Facebook throughout the day," Hagenbucher said.

He said police still are obtaining specific information about what was posted.

"I just know that ... they were arguing and they didn't like each other and they were going to become involved in some type of fight," Hagenbucher said. "We don't have all that information yet."

Multiple Wausau police cars were on the scene Friday evening and had blocked off Jefferson Street from La Salle Street to North 10th Street. Officers were searching the street with flashlights.

There is no threat to the community at large, Hagenbucher said, as police believe this was isolated incident.

Police are continuing to investigate. They're asking anyone with information related to the incident to contact the Wausau Police Department. People also can provide information anonymously through Crime Stoppers at www.marathoncountycrimestoppers.org.

How to help

A family member of the 13-year-old victim has created an online fundraiser to help the family pay for funeral costs. For more information, go to http://www.gofundme.com/ner5bo.