"It's just horrific:" Gov. Walker weighs in on Waukesha stabbing

WAUKESHA (WITI) -- Gov. Scott Walker offered his reaction on Thursday morning, June 5th to the stabbing case out of Waukesha County.

Two 12-year-old girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, are accused of luring a classmate into a wooded area on May 31st -- and then stabbing her repeatedly.

The 12-year-old victim in this case suffered 19 gunshot wounds. She remains hospitalized -- and is said to be in fair condition. She is apparently walking and talking, and working on her physical recovery.

The suspects, Geyser and Weier, are charged as adults -- each facing one count of attempted first degree intentional homicide as party to a crime. 

The girls told police they stabbed their friend to appease a fictional character named Slenderman -- whom they learned about on the CreepyPasta website. The girls told police they wanted to become proxies of Slenderman, and to do so, they needed to kill.

The girls told police they had planned to kill their friend for months.

FOX6 News caught up with Gov. Walker at the Law Enforcement Torch Run in Waukesha County, where he talked about the case.

"It's just horrific. I've got two nieces who live here in this county who are not much younger; one 10 and one seven. And it's just mind-boggling to me to think about the fact that any young person at or near that age could be involved in something so evil," said Gov. Walker.

Since learning of the details of this case earlier this week, many have been asking how something like this could happen -- how fantasy could tap into real life so dramatically.

Some of the focus in this case is on mental health.

The attorney for one of the girls in this case has said he believes his client is mentally ill -- saying she needs to be in a hospital.

Morgan Geyser is being represented by Anthony Cotton -- with the law firm Kuchler & Cotton S.C.

In court on Monday, June 2nd, an attorney with the law firm requested Geyser be moved to an inpatient psychiatric facility.

"We're asking the court to consider release on a GPS device with the confines of the GPS extended to an inpatient psychiatric facility. We have a found a place for Morgan at Aurora in Wauwatosa," Donna Kuchler said.

After setting her bail at $500,000 -- the court commissioner rejected the idea.

"At least at this point, the court is not inclined to extend confines or GPS monitor or anything of that sort. At least not today -- and not at this point," Court Commissioner Thomas Pieper said.

Geyser's attorney says the request to have her moved will be re-issued when she returns to court next week.

Mental health is an issue Gov. Walker discussed when speaking about this case on Thursday.

"We put almost $30 million into mental services -- just because all too often in the past, and I imagine it's true here too -- what we've seen is there are often gaps in terms of getting access to mental services. I don't know if that's the case in this instance, but certainly it's an ongoing concern," Gov. Walker said.

Gov. Walker indicated we as a community have to look at what kind of influences we're having on young people -- and look for positive ways to make sure our young people know the difference between right and wrong.

Geyser and Weier will be back in court on Wednesday, June 11th.