Man laughed while confessing to repeatedly stabbing stranger in park, charges state

By Stephen Swanson, Reg Chapman

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    BROOKLYN CENTER, Minnesota (WCCO) — NOTE: This story contains graphic details about an attempted murder.

A 20-year-old man from Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, faces life in prison after police said he “calmly” confessed to stalking and stabbing a woman at random in a park, and “even laughed” while being interrogated.

According to the criminal complaint filed Monday in Hennepin County, Brooklyn Center officers were dispatched to the city’s Willow Lane Park Sunday at 2 a.m. after a 911 caller admitted to attacking a woman struggling with homelessness.

Police said the man admitted he “stabbed her around 20 times and enjoyed it,” the complaint states, and was “wondering what the outcome of the stabbing was.”

Officers reported he was covered in blood, which he said was the victim’s. She was soon found and rushed to an area hospital, where she was treated for “stab wounds on her arms, torso, chest, hands, shoulders and stomach,” the complaint states. The victim is in critical condition but is expected to survive.

Police say the suspect confessed to sneaking out of his home with a knife with the intention to kill a random person, which he said he’s had the urge to do since he was 10 years old, according to court documents.

The suspect said he first went to a nearby gas station and spotted the victim sitting alone on a bench. He said he followed her, eventually striking up a conversation and walking with her to the park.

The complaint states the two sat on a bench and continued to talk until he revealed he wanted to kill her. During his attack, the suspect allegedly said he also kicked the woman several times in the head, ending the assault once she fell silent and he was “tired from stabbing her so many times.”

The suspect allegedly said he tossed his knife and left the scene because he didn’t want to be shot by law enforcement. Court documents state he returned to his home, where he encountered a fellow resident who saw him covered in blood, directing them to forget what they saw. The suspect said he changed shirts and washed his hands “because her blood smelled,” the complaint states.

Police said the suspect “showed no remorse” and “became very upset” when he learned the victim would survive.

He is charged with first-degree attempted murder, which carries the possibility of life without parole. His bail is set at $2 million.

According to another criminal complaint filed in Otter Tail County in January, the suspect was charged with making threats of violence, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct while in the ER at Fergus Falls’ Lake Region Hospital.

The suspect, described as a “psychiatric patient,” had been sent to a behavioral health clinic the day earlier “due to homicidal ideations,” saying he wanted to commit a mass murder on his upcoming birthday, court documents state.

He’s accused of smashing a hospital phone during a call with his case manager. According to the complaint, the case manager later told investigators the suspect “began making comments about becoming a mass murderer” while in their care, and said he stole knives from a dollar store to carry out his birthday attack.

The case manager said the suspect also threatened to stab them and “watch them bleed out,” and he’d kill anyone who tried to stop him.

The threats of violence and property damage charges in this case are both felonies. It’s unclear if he has made subsequent court appearances or if he was expected to go to trial.

WCCO spoke about this case with Sue Abderholden, executive director of Minnesota’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

“If someone is threatening to kill someone, they would meet the Commitment Act,” Abderholden said. “They’re a danger to themselves and others.”

She says getting someone committed is not easy.

“You can only treat someone involuntarily when they’re a danger to themselves or others, or when they really can’t take care of themselves at all. And so it’s a high standard because we’re balancing human rights,” she said.

Abderholden’s office often gets calls about someone needing help but their condition is not severe enough for civil commitment. She believes this may be why the man who broke into the Minnesota State Capitol last week, and was found naked in the Senate president’s seat, was not initially arrested.

“So they’re often let go from the hospital or the crisis team leaves,” she said. “And that’s the scary part for so many people because they really want them to get help, and there is nothing.”

Law enforcement and county attorneys in Minnesota asked lawmakers this past legislative session to provide funding so people in need of mental health help don’t sit behind bars waiting for that help.

“These individuals need treatment, not incarceration. They are patients, not criminals. They need hospitals, not jails,” said Renville County Sheriff Scott Hable at a Capitol news conference. “Because of the lack of capacity in Minnesota’s mental health treatment facilities, we are criminalizing mental illness and it must stop.”

Abderholden says the state needs more of everything, including first episode psychosis programs, more supportive housing and more crisis teams.

She also pointed out that although the stories making headlines are tragic situations, most people with mental illness are not violent.

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