Taylor Justin Schulz is an alleged killer from Minnesota who has been charged with the murder of Robert Skafte
According to court documents Taylor Justin Schulz entered the Oak Grove grocery store and put a number of items in a basket then headed to the check out area. Once there Schulz would attack the cashier Robert Skafte with a broken golf club before impaling Skafte causing injuries that would lead to his death
Taylor Justin Schulz was arrested following a long standoff with police and has been charged with murder
Taylor Justin Schulz News
A cashier died after a suspect impaled him with a golf club Friday afternoon at a small grocery store in Minneapolis’ Loring Park neighborhood, police said.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the assailant, a 44-year-old man, approached the counter of Oak Grove Grocery on the 200 block of Oak Grove Street just before 1 p.m., appearing to have items for purchase. The suspect then went behind the counter and started beating the worker behind the register with the golf club, eventually thrusting the weapon into the victim’s torso.
The victim, a 66-year-old man, was taken to the hospital but later died. A longtime friend identified him as Robert Skafte.
A spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed on Saturday morning that Taylor Justin Schulz, 44, was taken into custody on probable cause murder.
Taylor Justin Schulz barricaded himself in an apartment building across the street and remained there for about six hours while SWAT teams and crisis negotiators worked to make an arrest. He was eventually brought into custody without further incident, O’Hara said.
“We know this neighborhood is hurting tonight because of this absolutely horrific crime and just how senseless it was — an elder who is so well known and has worked in this grocery store for decades,” O’Hara said.
Minneapolis Police on Saturday said they are not looking for additional suspects at this time. Anyone who has additional information is urged to call 911. Anonymous tips can be submitted through CrimeStoppers.
Taylor Justin Schulz More News
Tributes have been paid to a well-loved and popular store worker who was horrifically killed when a customer allegedly stuck a golf club through the man’s chest.
Suspect Taylor Justin Schulz, 44, is in custody, following a six-hour standoff with cops at a nearby apartment unit where he barricaded himself inside. His alleged victim, Robert Skafte, was pronounced dead shortly after the unprovoked attack, which happened on Friday at Oak Grove Grocery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Taylor Justin Schulz, 44, allegedly brought several items to the counter just before 1pm then launched the unprovoked attack. Schulz impaled the 66-year-old dancer “through the torso” with the club before fleeing the building, the Minneapolis Police Department said.
According to the New York Post, neighbor Tony Gutoski walked into the store shortly after the horror incident and was able to alert authorities while Taylor Justin Schulz was still on the scene. At that point, he recalled, Skafte was still alive, and told him his attacker had come in earlier in the day before the fatal encounter.
Gutoski said: “He was speaking, he answered questions. He told me the dude that came in earlier that was acting crazy and yelling about st came back and attacked him.” He added that Schulz was “a f***g crazy person” who had called 911 just before the attack to demand to talk to the FBI.
Gutoski said that, like many other people in the area, he was also a friend of the victim and thought he was “a really good dude [who] never hurt no one”. Gutoski, one of the last people to see him alive, remembered him as “a fixture in the neighborhood”.
And that was a sentiment echoed by several others who have been left in shock by the man’s murder. Mourners have flocked to the shop since to leave tributes and wreaths at a growing memorial for Skafte, who was an accomplished dancer in the area’s tight-knit theater community.
Police chief Brian O’Hara issued a statement where he said officers tracked the suspect to the building after speaking to Gutoski and described the stand-off negotiators, the SWAT team, the drone unit and the bomb squad had to endure before they managed to get Schulz to surrender, after which SWAT officers took him into custody where he was then booked in the Hennepin County Jail on probable cause murder.
According to the Daily Mail, O’Hara said that he thought the murder was committed “in a very grotesque way”, and left behind a “senseless and horrific scene” that many will be forced to remember for years to come. He said: “We know this neighborhood is hurting tonight because of this absolutely senseless crime. Investigators are working to determine what transpired leading up to the murder.”
The chief then went on to say Skafte was “an elder who had lived in this neighborhood for decades”. And Myron Johnson, a friend of Skafte and fellow pro dancer, told MPRNews: “It’s tragic. It’s hard to even imagine that it’s real.”
While Stephanie Grey, who danced with Skafte at Minneapolis-based dance company Ballet of the Dolls, added: “He had the innocence of a child with the wisdom of an old soul. I can’t even begin to wrap my brain around the loss.”
The pair and several others revealed how Skafte took up work at Oak Grove Grocery several years after his dance career ended, and lived in a building right across the street. According to them the victim was best known for roles in Hello Dalí, a dance and musical production about the life of painter Salvador Dalí, as well as Carmen and a disco version of Giselle.
Officers said that first responders had tried to save Skafte’s life, but he died at Hennepin County Medical Center. There is a memorial with candles, flowers and photos set up outside the grocery store. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has yet to issue charges in the case.
https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/grocery-clerk-impaled-golf-club-232339