Loring Park murder suspect competent to stand trial, judge orders

MPD Chief offers standoff update

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara provides details on the resolution of a six-hour-long standoff that left a grocery store cashier "bludgeoned and impaled by a golf club" Friday in Loring Park.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A man accused of brutally murdering a Loring Park convenience store clerk – impaling him with a golf club in the process – is mentally competent to stand trial, according to a ruling on Tuesday that reverses a previous decision.

In January, Taylor Schulz was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 66-year-old Robert Skafte – who was working at the Oak Grove Grocery on Dec. 8 when Schulz took an item of merchandise to the counter, then immediately walked around the counter and attacked Skafte, charges state.

On Tuesday, Hennepin County Judge Julia Dayton Klein ruled that Schulz was mentally competent to stand trial for the murder, reversing the earlier determination that he was unfit to participate in his own defense.

Schulz will have a hearing set at a later date, and bail remains set at $1 million.

Skafte has since been remembered by community members for his contributions to dance and theater, who created a vigil outside the store where he was killed.