A grocery store cashier was killed by a man who allegedly impaled him with a golf club Friday afternoon in Minneapolis’ Loring Park neighborhood, according to police.
Neighbors described the victim as a friendly fixture at the Oak Grove Grocery for decades, leaving them shocked and saddened at the gruesome crime.
“We are broken; our hearts are broken,” said Manuela Torres, who lived next door to the store and said she was friends with the victim.
Officers responded just before 1 p.m. to reports of a stabbing inside the store at 218 Oak Grove St. They found a 66-year-old man behind the counter with a golf club through his torso, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a Friday night press briefing.
First responders provided aid until the cashier was transported to HCMC, where he later died, O’Hara said. Authorities have not released his name.
Early investigation found that the suspect had gathered some items in the store and went up to the counter before attacking the victim with the golf club, O’Hara said.
“It appears he then went behind the counter and then began to assault and bludgeon the individual behind the counter in a very grotesque way,” O’Hara said.
Police have no idea of a motive, the chief added. “We will do our best to try and make sense of this, but this is horrific and absolutely senseless,” O’Hara said.
Angela Otis, who lives across the street, said she saw through the window that the cashier had blood on his face. When he was brought out, she said, she saw he had a golf club sticking out from both sides.
Officers tracked the suspect to the apartment building across the street, where police say the 44-year-old barricaded himself.
After a nearly 6-hour-long standoff, the stabbing suspect was arrested without incident, O’Hara said. Police used crisis negotiators, a SWAT team, drones and a bomb squad, according to police. The chief said he does not know if the suspect had any other weapons during the standoff.
A memorial for the victim was set up outside the store Friday night with candles, flowers and a photo.. Torres was crying loudly as about a dozen neighbors gathered.
A couple apartments down, resident Justine Moran said she was having trouble processing the loss. She would often go inside for snacks and found all the employees to be friendly, she said.
“He was very kind, like everyone in there, honestly,” Moran said while sitting on a stoop with her dog. “It just feels very empty.”
The man would water the flowers along the sidewalk every day, Otis said, and she would often see him come outside to write a new saying on the chalk board outside the grocery.
“I looked at him as a brother,” Otis said. “I used to just sit in the store, BS with him, and he was always happy, he never made anyone sad.”
Torres said she wishes she could have been there to intervene, and that she thinks others in the neighborhood would have stepped in.
“I can tell you with certainty that if any one of us had been here, we would have taken a knife” for the victim, Torres said.
Torres added that there was a period where he helped her out when she was struggling with mental illness.
“He picked me up,” she said. “And when I wouldn’t come in for two months, three months, he would say, where have you been?”
This was the 66th homicide in Minneapolis so far in 2023, according to the Star Tribune’s database. It’s also the fourth homicide in the last week.