In a tragic incident at the Eastridge Mall in Casper, Wyoming, 14-year-old Bobby Maher was fatally stabbed while attempting to protect his girlfriend from harassment by two masked teenagers. The altercation occurred on a Sunday afternoon when Maher’s girlfriend contacted him, distressed because she was being followed around the mall by the two individuals.
Upon receiving the call, Maher hurried to the mall to escort his girlfriend and her friend to safety. According to court documents, surveillance footage captured Maher trying to de-escalate the situation by urging the aggressors, identified as 15-year-olds Jarreth Plunkett and Dominique Harris, to leave. However, the confrontation escalated rapidly.
The footage showed that after a verbal exchange, where Plunkett reportedly provoked Maher to engage physically, Harris grabbed Maher, lifting him and then slamming him onto the ground. Harris then began assaulting Maher. Shortly thereafter, Plunkett, wielding a kitchen-style knife reportedly stolen from a Target within the same mall earlier that day, stabbed Maher.
The assailants, masked with balaclavas during the attack, fled the scene immediately after the stabbing, discarding the knife and their masks in the mall’s parking lot. They were apprehended by the police shortly after the incident.
Both suspects were charged as adults given the severity of the crime. Plunkett faces charges including first-degree murder and aggravated assault and battery, among others. Harris has been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and aggravated assault and battery, along with a misdemeanor theft charge.
The court set their bonds at $500,000 and $450,000, respectively, reflecting the gravity of the charges against them. This incident has left the community and the victim’s family reeling from the shock and the senseless violence that took a young boy’s life in what began as an attempt to protect someone he cared about.