A 54-year-old man slit a friend's throat, leaving him to bleed to death in a west-central Minnesota neighborhood and then told police he was hoping his victim would die, according to charges.

Michael D. Grussing, who lived at the address in Montevideo where the knifing occurred, was charged Wednesday in Chippewa County District court with second-degree murder in the death of Kevin Richardson, 44.

According to the criminal complaint, Grussing ran away when police arrived in response to a call. The officer found him hiding under a bush. Grussing and the officer returned to the suspect's apartment, where there was much blood on the porch. Grussing pointed out the knife on the arm of a couch, the complaint said. "I slit him in his throat. … I hope he dies," he said, according to the document.

Court records show that Grussing has many convictions in Minnesota dating to the late 1980s. They include soliciting sex from a child, theft, assault, disorderly conduct, damage to property, harassment, and four drunken-driving convictions.

PAUL WALSH