Article: Charged with murder, teen claims self-defense: Suspect, 16, says ex-friend stabbed him first in fatal Hastings confrontation.

Byline: Frederick Melo

Aug. 30--Sometime early Sunday, 16-year-old Trent Griebling and two friends entered a Hastings residence where Griebling confronted former friend Allan Beckles. The teens talked, ran from the house and then fought.

Not long afterward, Griebling staggered from a nearby field, stabbed in his lungs, heart, back and hip. Within minutes, he was dead.

Beckles, too, was cut across the arm.

Was it murder or self-defense? On Wed-nesday, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom opted for the former and charged Beckles with second-degree murder -- causing a death, without intent to kill, while committing felony assault.

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