KENTWOOD — Around 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4, a 12-year-old boy repeatedly stabbed a 9-year-old on a playground in Kentwood in western Michigan. 

A group of children were playing when the 12-year-old, for unknown reasons, pulled out a knife and continued to stab Michael Conner Verkerke. After the stabbing, the 12-year-old used a nearby phone after leaving the playground to call the police and turned himself in. 

Verkerke  ran to his home after the stabbing and bled to death on the porch. 

The 12-year-old is being charged with murder and will be tried as an adult. He is being held at the juvenile detention center and has a hearing next week. On Tuesday, he plead not guilty. The Kent County Medical Examiner’s Office is planning to do an autopsy.