He lived just a four-minute walk from the malt shop where he worked and six minutes from the bar he often visited. In both places, Jason Foster, 34, of Chaska, was everyone's best friend.
At Tommy's Malt Shop on the edge of downtown near the Minnesota River, owner Brett Geselle thought it strange when he heard Foster hadn't shown for work Friday. His heart sank then, he said, when he drove by Kelley's Bar and he saw the police tape.
About 2 a.m. Friday, police said, Foster, a Kelley's regular known to friends by his last name, was fatally stabbed at the bar during a disturbance that resulted in three men being arrested -- one on suspicion of second-degree murder and the others for first-degree riot.
In an afternoon news release offering few details about the fight, police also described Kelley's Bar as "a source of concern for the police department." The release said police and city officials already had planned to meet with the bar's owner next week to discuss the concerns and the status of its liquor license renewal.
That meeting will go ahead, as planned, next Tuesday. Police said the investigation into Friday's disturbance also is continuing and that more charges were possible. The incident itself was described in the news release only as a fight outside Kelley's Bar.
Kelley Sharp, the bar's owner, said the stabbing occurred in the parking lot and involved three strangers who came in and "were causing fights" with the bar's regulars. The bartender kicked out the three men, he said. Foster then was fatally stabbed. Foster, he said, was a "good patron" who helped protect the bar when necessary.
Sharp, who was not at the bar during the incident, discussed it before the police statement about the city's issues with Kelley's was released. He could not be reached later to comment.
Foster's death was the second serious crime to occur there in recent weeks. A 46-year-old woman was arrested and charged last month with robbing the bar while armed.
