Waverly boy pleads guilty to attempted murder for stabbing teenager

Shane Moore was scheduled for a jury trial this week before entering his plea late last week to charges of attempted murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony.

He faces up to 70 years in prison at sentencing next month.

Four days shy of turning 15, Moore called 911 to Wayne Park shortly before noon on Oct. 13, 2022, telling the dispatcher he needed to “report a homicide,” according to court records.

When he called 911, he said, “By the way, I did this. Just so you know. I’m not going to lie to anyone,” and also said he stabbed the victim and offered to take police to “the body.” “

When asked if he had plans to stab someone, he replied, “Oh yeah. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” according to a Court of Appeals decision that upheld a Lincoln judge’s decision to keep Moore’s case in adult court.

After the stabbing, Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said the teen told deputies he was “going to be famous.”

That day, Moore had gone to several stores in Waverly, where his family had moved a month earlier, “looking for a potential victim to kill,” according to court records. He waited in the bathroom of a store for someone to come in, but no one did. He then spoke to an employee of the car wash before seeing the victim walk past him and follow him.

Moore approached the other teen and said he wanted to be friends, but the victim said he wasn’t interested and started walking away. When he turned to walk away, Moore stabbed the boy in the back several times.

However, the victim, Kyle Punko, was able to tackle Moore and hold him down, but allowed him to pick her up after Moore apologized and promised not to stab him again.

As Punko began to walk away, she collapsed from her injuries and Moore jumped on her and stabbed her twice more, leaving her on the ground bleeding.

Punko suffered a cut to her heart, requiring emergency surgery at Lincoln hospital.

Both teens were Waverly High School students on fall break.

Moore moved to Nebraska in September 2022 from Colorado, where he was hospitalized the previous year for suicidal and homicidal thoughts after threatening to kill relatives.