Boy, 14, fatally stabbed trying to protect girlfriend from two ski mask-clad teens in mall: authorities
A 14-year-old Wyoming boy was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife while trying to protect his girlfriend from two balaclava-clad teens in a shopping mall, authorities said.
Bobby Maher was fatally knifed after he confronted the two 15-year-old boys for allegedly harassing his middle school sweetheart at the Eastridge Mall in Casper on Sunday afternoon, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
Maher had rushed to the mall after his girlfriend had called to say the two suspects — since identified as Jarreth Plunkett and Dominique Harris — were allegedly following her and a friend around the shopping complex, according to the criminal complaint.
Once he arrived, Maher tried to usher his girlfriend and her pal from the mall in a bid “to keep them safe” while repeatedly telling the two alleged perps to leave, the court papers charge.
Surveillance footage of the ordeal allegedly showed Maher backing away from his alleged attackers, who were wearing hooded balaclava-style masks, as Plunkett told him “to swing on him several times.”
Harris was then allegedly caught on camera picking up Maher by his waist and slamming him to the ground before repeatedly punching his face.
Moments later, Plunkett stepped in and could be seen plunging the “kitchen-style knife” into the victim, per the complaint.
The two suspects quickly fled and allegedly dumped the bloody knife and their balaclava masks in the parking lot, cops said.
After being nabbed a short time later, the alleged perps told cops the victim had called them “freaks.”
They allegedly also confessed to having only just stolen the knife from a Target inside the mall, the complaint says.
One of the victim’s friends later told cops that the two suspects attended Dean Middle School with the victim, but that they only knew them as “JJ and Dom.”
Maher’s friend added there had been an encounter between the victim and suspects at a park at some point before the fatal knifing.
Plunkett was slapped with charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault and battery, and theft.
Harris is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, aggravated assault and battery, and misdemeanor theft.
The alleged perps, who were charged as adults, had their bonds set at $500,000 and $450,000, respectively, during an initial court hearing Monday.
