MINNEAPOLIS — The man who allegedly killed a beloved Minneapolis grocer has been deemed fit for trial after earlier being declared incompetent for the court proceedings.

Taylor Schultz is accused of beating 66-year-old Robert Skafte before impaling him with a golf club at Loring Park’s Oak Grove Grocery, where Skafte worked as a clerk, on Dec. 6, 2023.

A Hennepin County judge initially decided to rule Schultz incompetent after officials revealed details of 44-year-old Schultz’s court-ordered psychological evaluation. 

Skafte was taken to the hospital for treatment but ultimately died from his injuries. After the killing, Schultz reportedly barricaded himself inside a nearby apartment for nearly six hours before he was arrested without incident. He was later charged with second-degree murder in Skafte’s death.

Schultz’s next court hearing is scheduled for Oct 15. 

MINNEAPOLIS — The latest Consumer Price Index released this week shows the cost of goods and services increased 2.4 percent nationwide over the past 12 months, the slowest rate of inflation in three years.

After the Federal Reserve moved to decrease interest rates last month, this week’s CPI report was slightly higher than expected — but not drastically.

“That just means it missed expectations by 0.1 percent. Overall, inflation has continued to come down and that’s the important trend that people should be thinking about,” University of St. Thomas economics professor Tyler Schipper said. “Even though the prices are still high out there, and the sticker shock of the grocery store hasn’t gone away, prices continue to moderate.”

Meanwhile, here in the Twin Cities, the rate of inflation stands at 1.9 percent — even lower than the national average. 

Joe Mahon, a regional outreach director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said that’s largely driven by lower housing costs here in the Twin Cities. Also, locally, gasoline prices and medical care costs are lower than the national average, Mahon said, although costs for things like food and household energy are growing faster than the rest of the U.S.

“Last year, it was kind of a big story that we had the lowest inflation rate in the country of all the large cities nationwide,” Mahon said. “That’s not quite true anymore. Even though the rate of inflation here now is lower than it was a year ago, some other cities have seen their inflation rates come down more than us, so we’re kind of more in the middle of the pack now.”

Overall, the downward trend in inflation both locally and nationally means the Federal Reserve is expected to continue cutting rates. The Fed has its next policy meeting scheduled for early November, shortly after the presidential election.

After a streak of lower-than-expected jobs reports, Professor Schipper said the latest indicators in the labor market this month will help inform Fed policy.

“The unemployment rate fell, we created 250,000-plus new jobs, we actually revised the previous two months upwards. And we’re always worried about putting too much weight on a single data point, but it did change the view of where the labor market is at,” Schipper said. “There will be conversation about how quickly to lower rates but I think they’re going in that direction, where we’ll see, at least one — maybe, possibly, hopefully — two rate cuts by the end of the year, and then more quarterly rate cuts going into 2025.”

MINNEAPOLIS — In a court hearing 16 years to the day that 18-year-old Jesse Mickelson was killed in a drive-by shooting in south Minneapolis, the prosecution and defense both asked a judge to release Edgar Barrientos-Quintana — the man convicted of first-degree murder in his death — as he looked on via a video monitor from the prison.

“I will get a decision out as soon as I can,” said Anoka County Judge John McBride.

McBride was brought into the case to avoid a conflict of interest, as Judge Hilary Lindell Caligiuri was a prosecutor in the case.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and Barrientos-Quintana’s defense agreed to stipulated facts they provided the judge, along with several exhibits for him to review.

The state’s Conviction Review Unit said they believe Barrientos-Quintana could not have committed the crime because he was seen in a video in a grocery store in Saint Paul, 33 minutes before the shooting in south Minneapolis occurred.

Friday in court, Barrientos-Quintana looked on remotely from a screen at the prison as the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office told the judge it agreed with Barrientos’ defense.

The victim’s family was in court hoping for the defendant’s release.

“My only concern today is the judge comes back with a decision as soon as possible and honors the decision and the attorneys’ decision and releases him. I’m hoping,” said Jesse’s sister Tina Rosebear.