Police in Minnesota arrested a man after he allegedly beat a store clerk to death and impaled him with a golf club.
It happened just before 2 p.m. Friday at the Oak Grove Grocery store in Minneapolis. Police said in a press release that officers were called for a stabbing and found the store clerk behind the counter with a golf club “impaled through his torso.” First responders took the 66-year-old man to the hospital where he died. A witness identified a suspect and cops tracked him to a nearby apartment where he barricaded himself.
Minneapolis police called out its SWAT team, drone unit and negotiators to the scene. After six hours, police were able to coax out the 44-year-old suspect. He has not been identified nor has a motive for the murder been released.
Robert Skafte, right, died when he was bludgeoned and impaled with a golf club while he was working at a Minneapolis grocery store. A suspect is in custody. Friends and neighbors erected a small memorial in Skafte’s honor outside Oak Grove Grocery store where he died. (Memorial: Screengrab from KARE/YouTube; Skafte photo: Oak Grove Grocery Facebook)
Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters the suspect walked inside the store, bought some items and then went to the counter.
“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.
Cops did not name the victim, but the grocery store identified him as Robert Skafte.
“We are devastated by the death of Robert Skafte, the heart and soul of the Oak Grove Grocery and the entire Loring Park Community,” the grocery store posted on Facebook. “Robert was the definition of a good neighbor, a true friend, and the best teammate. He was the light of the neighborhood and our world will forever be a little less bright without him in it.”
Skafte also was an acclaimed dancer. He trained and danced with Westside Ballet in California in the early 1980s and danced professionally with Kansas City Ballet from 1984 to 1994 before he moved to Minneapolis. He performed for the dance company Ballet of the Dolls for nearly 20 years, according to Minneapolis NBC affiliate KARE.
The victim also was active in the community.
“He’s been a part of Stevens Square, Loring Heights, Loring Park for decades now,” Jose Herrera the board chair of the Stevens Square Community Organization told KARE. “He oversaw the farmers market in Stevens Square for 16 consecutive years, which was a huge achievement.”
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