Weeks after tossing and smashing televisions at a St. Paul Wal-Mart store, a 25-year-old man who claims to have schizophrenia walked into a Cub Foods store Monday and stabbed a cashier in the chest.
Raymond A. Berg, of St. Paul, said his goal both times was to go to jail, according to an assault charge filed against him Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court.
"I really wouldn't like to go back out on the street again," he was quoted as saying.
The attack occurred about 10:45 a.m. Monday at Cub Foods, 2197 Old Hudson Road, in the Sun Ray Shopping Center. Berg told police that he chose a male cashier because he didn't want to stab a woman, the complaint said.
The victim was taken to Regions Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell said. The man told police that Berg said nothing before stabbing him.
After the attack, Berg reportedly paced near the exit doors, holding the knife overhead, and he appeared to be in a daze, witnesses said.
When interviewed by police, he said he was under a doctor's care but didn't have mental health medication. He knew right from wrong, he added, but also was in a "situation where he can't afford anything and just wanted out."
Last month, Berg was charged with criminal damage to property after allegedly taking televisions and throwing them into one another at Wal-Mart, 1450 University Av. W., in the Midway area. Damage was estimated at $1,586.
