CASPER, Wyo. — Two 15-year-old males have been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree homicide after the stabbing death of a juvenile at the Eastridge Mall on Sunday, April 7.
State prosecutors say the attack was premeditated and the defendants conspired three days beforehand to carry it out.
The suspects appeared in juvenile arraignments but are being charged as adults, District Attorney Dan Itzen confirmed. They were identified by their initials, which will not be disclosed here at this time.
Both are charged with the conspiracy, and one has been charged with carrying out the deadly attack. They are both presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“The level of violence is immeasurable here,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson said at the defendants’ initial appearance on Monday.
Nelson said the motive appears to be a junior high feud or “beef,” and added that the defendants planned to target the eventual victim three days before the deadly attack on Sunday.
Nelson said that when the defendants learned the victim was at the mall, they put on masks and shoplifted two knives from Target. Nelson said security footage shows the victim leaving the mall and being confronted by the defendants, one with a knife visibly in hand.
Nelson said one defendant threw the unarmed victim to the ground and restrained him while the other defendant carried out the attack with repeated strikes of the knife.
“They were seen laughing and pointing as they ran through the parking lot while witnesses attempted first aid,” Nelson said.
The juvenile victim succumbed to his injuries at the hospital, police said.
The defendants are also charged with the aggravated assault and battery of another minor, and misdemeanor theft for allegedly shoplifting the knives.
The state asked for a $1 million cash-only bond at the defendants’ initial appearance. The court ultimately set bond at $500,000 cash only for the alleged killer and $450,000 cash-only for the co-defendant, whom Nelson called “an inseparable component of this plan.”
First-degree homicide carries a penalty of life in prison (without or without the possibility of parole), or death.
