Minnesota man accused of fatally impaling acclaimed ballet dancer ruled incompetent for trial

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• Taylor Justin Schulz, who is accused of fatally impaling a grocery store employee with a golf club, has been found incompetent to stand trial.
• The victim, Robert Skafte, a 66-year-old clerk and acclaimed ballet dancer, was found with a golf club impaled through his torso at Oak Grove Grocery in Minneapolis.
• Schulz, 44, had been evicted a week before the killing and had a history of assaulting other apartment residents.

The man accused of using a golf club to fatally impale a Minneapolis grocery store employee has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial on a murder charge.

Judicial Officer Danielle Mercurio on Tuesday ruled on the mental competency evaluation of Taylor Justin Schulz, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Schulz, 44, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 66-year-old Robert Skafte on Dec. 8. Officers responded to Oak Grove Grocery and and found the victim behind the counter "with a golf club impaled through his torso," police said at the time. Skafte died at a hospital.

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Skafte was a clerk at the store for nearly two decades and also an acclaimed ballet dancer. Schulz lived in an apartment across the street. Court records show Schulz had been evicted a week before the killing and had previously assaulted other apartment residents.

Robert Skafte is seen in the production of 3X Tennessee in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Sept. 8, 2003. Police say Skafte, 66, was beaten and impaled with a golf club inside the Oak Grove Grocery store on Dec. 8, 2023.  (BRUCE BISPING/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Mercurio's decision was based on the opinion of a psychological examiner. Schulz has a history of mental illness.

"We have no reason to dispute the examiner’s opinion," Schulz’s public defender, Emmett Donnelly, said in a statement.

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A message was left Wednesday with the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

Schulz remains jailed on $1 million bond. He faces a court hearing in July. His case could be referred for civil commitment proceedings.

Schulz has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and self-reported post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. He has received treatment and services through Veterans Affairs in the past.

Schulz was civilly committed for six months in 2021, when a doctor found he was at "unacceptably high risk of further psychiatric deterioration unless strong support is given," the newspaper reported, citing court documents.