Robert Skafte: Mentally ill man arrested after ballet icon found impaled by golf club at grocery store

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: A person, who is an accused in the murder of a Loring Park man, was charged with murder on Monday, December 11, by prosecutors. The Loring Park man was killed late last week with a golf club.

Just before 1.00 pm on Friday, December 8, police discovered Robert Skafte, 66, behind the counter of the Oak Grove Grocery store, with a golf club embedded in his chest.

Skafte was a well-known ballet dancer who worked for decades as a cashier at the store. The neighborhood is currently in mourning.

Suspect arrested

Taylor Justin Schulz, 44, is reportedly under arrest by police following a six-hour standoff. According to recently-filed charges, Schulz has a history of assaulting people.

Tuesday marks Schulz's first court appearance; his lawyer is not yet on file. Skafte's multiple penetrating and blunt-force injuries were determined to be the cause of death by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office on Monday. Outside the grocery store, a memorial for Skafte has been erected by friends and neighbors.

Skafte received training and performance experience from Kansas City Ballet in 1984–1994 and Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica, California, in the early 1980s. According to Westside's website, he later relocated to Minneapolis and began dancing with the theater group Ballet of the Dolls.

Skafte was helped by first responders and taken to HCMC, where he passed away. After the murder, Schulz barricaded himself in his apartment at 215 Oak Grove Street, which was located across the street from the grocery store.

Taylor Justin Schulz previously abused other apartment occupants

According to the second-degree murder charges, Schulz had previously abused other apartment occupants. Based on the criminal complaint and the attack's video footage, less than two minutes after the attack, a customer entered the store and dialed 911.

Schulz walked in while Skafte was at work. After bringing some merchandise to the counter, he turned around and started kneeling and punching Skafte, who was trying to flee. Schulz continued to choke, punch, and kick him after dragging him back by his shirt.

Then he reached behind the counter and produced a golf club.

Before the club's head broke off, he struck Skafte eight times in the head and neck. Schulz then started stabbing him with the club's broken shaft before impaling his chest. Police were informed by a witness that they saw a resident enter the apartment while covered in blood on his face and clothes.

On the sixteenth floor, police knocked on his door. He screamed for the cops to "go away" and would not go. After six hours, he opened his door and was taken into custody.

Upon searching his apartment, Schulz appeared to have attempted to clean some clothing with a soap bar.

What was motive behind killing?

A motive for the killing is not mentioned in the charges. At a news conference on Friday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated, "We will do our best to try and make sense of this, but this is horrific and absolutely senseless." 

Court documents describe in detail Schulz's mental health issues and legal run-ins, StarTribune reported. According to court documents, he self-reported having PTSD and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

After Mercy Hospital's Unity campus in Fridley filed a petition in January 2021 for Schulz to be civilly committed due to risk of harm, a district judge in Anoka County ordered six months of commitment. 

Schulz was admitted to Mercy Hospital at the time for allegedly consuming a lot of beer every day at a nearby hotel. When EMS got to the hotel, they gave him valium.

According to court documents, Schulz claimed to a hotel worker that he had killed Osama bin Laden and that he was experiencing hallucinations after traveling from Maine to Minnesota and staying at different hotels.

"He also told hospital staff that he was fearful that auditory hallucinations would tell him to hurt someone and he would follow through with such a command," according to the commitment order.

Though not at the time of the commitment proceedings, he had received services and treatment from the VA.

His civil union expired in July 2021. He was accused of driving while intoxicated that August, but the case was dropped.

According to court documents, he was pulled over by police on Anoka's Main Street with a driver's license from Maine. In November, Schulz got an eviction summons and a welfare check as a person-in-crisis after he called 911 "wanting to speak to the FBI".

Skafte's Loring Park neighbors got together over the weekend to honor a man who they claim was the first to greet newcomers.

After the attack, Tony Gutoski, a neighbor, was one of the first to help Skafte, who he discovered partially conscious and on his knees. Someone who "was in there earlier acting crazy came back and attacked him," he said, adding that he continued fighting the man without realizing what had happened.

According to Gutoski, the club had punctured Skafte's abdomen, and the severed head was lying close by. Skafte lost consciousness while being carried outside and was attended to by medics.

"The only reason I knew what was going on is Robert was still conscious and talking when I found him," he stated. It will be challenging to visit the market again, according to Gutoski, who visited the store frequently and knew Skafte well.

He spoke with the owner, who expressed uncertainty about its reopening.

"It just makes me angry," Gutoski remarked. "He was a great dude."