A University of Hartford student is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Hartford Monday on two counts of attempted murder after police say he stabbed two fellow students while the three men rehearsed a scene from the movie “The Butterfly Effect.”
A 19-year-old student suffered wounds to his chest and back and was listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center Sunday night, police said. A 21-year-old student, in whose on-campus apartment the men were practicing, suffered a puncture wound to the chest and four to the back. He was listed in serious but stable condition at St. Francis.
The men were rehearsing a scene from the movie as part of a school project, Hartford police Lt. Paul Cicero said.
“The suspect was ‘acting out’ a scene from a movie in which a person [or persons] gets stabbed, at which point he began to stab both victims before fleeing on foot,” Cicero said in a statement police released Sunday night.
Hartford police were called to the university, off Bloomfield Avenue, at 1:19 p.m. Sunday for a report of a person stabbed. When police arrived, they found both victims and quickly identified the suspect they were looking for.
The 19-year-old student is a commuter student, as was the suspect, Jake Wascher, whose local address is listed as Warrenton Avenue in Hartford.
According to his Facebook profile, Wascher enrolled in the university’s Hartt School seeking a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting. He previously attended California State University Fullerton.
Wascher was caught about two hours after the incident when a Hartford officer on the campus perimeter spotted a man who matched a description of Wascher that had been broadcast earlier. The officer spotted Wascher several hundred yards southeast of the campus. When he saw the officer, he ran into the woods, but surrendered after several more officers arrived and ordered him out of the woods, police said.
Major Crimes Division detectives questioned Wascher Sunday afternoon, and he made several admissions to police, officials said. He was held in lieu of $1 million bail and is to be arraigned Monday in Superior Court in Hartford.
Hartford police Crime Scene Division detectives obtained a warrant to search the room where the attack occurred, Cicero said.
The attack occurred inside a room in Village Quad 2. The campus was locked down in the immediate aftermath of the incident and as police searched for their suspect.
The university will offer counseling to anyone on campus who needs assistance, university spokeswoman Mildred McNeil said in a statement. “While there is no ongoing threat to campus, we recognize that this isolated incident is frightening and unsettling,” she said. “Our thoughts are with these students and their families during this difficult time.”
David Owens can be reached at dowens@courant.com.
