Employee Killed In Fire At St. Paul Deli

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A St. Paul community is mourning the loss of a well-known butcher who was killed in a fire overnight.

According to the St. Paul Fire Department, around 1:30 a.m. Thursday crews were called to a commercial building fire in the 1050 block of Western Avenue North.

Firefighters said Eva Tietz, her fiancé and two teenage children living upstairs on the second floor of the building called to report smoke coming from downstairs, the location of Stasny's Food Market and Deli.

The fire eventually caused the first level to collapse into the basement. That is where authorities found the body of 77-year-old Stu Gerr, who was a butcher at the shop.

"The victim did try to get out," St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said. "The owners tells us that they got a call from their alarm company of an intrusion alarm, which was several minutes after we got the call so it was probably us. They called [the man staying in the basement] and he said 'Yeah, it's getting really smoky down here. I got to get out.' And that's probably the last they heard of him."

"He's dedicated," Stasny's Food Market owner Jim Stasny said. "The greatest guy in the world."

He was a butcher for more than 60 years of his life, according to Gerr's co-workers at Stasny's. He kept people coming back with his food, but also his laughter.

"Stu was my meat man," Vera Ashley, from St. Paul, said. "We're like the Brady Bunch."

Firefighters say Gerr called the owner trying to get out during the fire.

"He said 'yeah it's getting really smoky down here I got to get out'," St. Paul Fire Marshall Steve Zaccard said. "That's the last they heard of him."

Gerr celebrated his 77th birthday at the store on Monday. Friends say while the store, a total loss, can be rebuilt, the loss of a coworker, friend, husband, and father, they say, will never fully heal.

Related: GoFundMe Page To Help Deli

"He always told me keep smiling, so I got a tattoo that says keep smiling," co-worker Taylor St. Martin said. "I'll always remember him from that."

Tietz and her family had lived in the apartment for 12 years. They lost everything in the fire, including her mother's ashes.

"I wish I'd known that the old man was downstairs staying there. I didn't know," Tietz said through tears. "I feel terrible to think that he died down there right where we maybe could have done something but we didn't know."

The St. Paul Police Arson Investigator and fire department are working together to determine where the fire started and the cause.

For the past 94 years, Stasny's has been a staple in the St. Paul community.It first opened in 1922.