Kansas City man sentenced to 7 years in prison for stabbing Carver Fleet Farm employee
MINNEAPOLIS — A judge sentenced a 31-year-old Kansas man to seven years in prison for stabbing a 17-year-old Fleet Farm employee last November.
Gerald Hudson of Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty to felony first-degree assault on Tuesday as part of a plea deal, according to court documents. A judge immediately sentenced him to 84 months in prison with credit for 72 days time served.
Deputies responded to the Fleet Farm in Carver just after 2 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2024, on the report of a stabbing. When they arrived, deputies located a 17-year-old female employee receiving emergency care and suffering from a laceration to the back of the neck with "significant blood loss observed," the criminal complaint said.
Authorities said the wound was "consistent with being stabbed with a sharp elongated object."
Witnesses told law enforcement that they heard someone scream, "he just stabbed me" and then saw a suspect running from the area of the scream, the complaint said.
Surveillance footage showed Hudson walking past the victim, but then returning to her and "making a striking movement" toward the victim when her back was turned, according to the complaint. He was then seen running from the store and driving away before law enforcement arrived.
Hudson was later located in Chanhassen and arrested after a "high-risk traffic stop," the sheriff's office said.
In a later interview, Hudson allegedly told a detective, "Maybe she said something that didn't sound right to me," so he picked up a "thing" and hit her with it.
A family friend of the victim posted on social media on the Tuesday after the stabbing saying the teenager was released from the hospital.
A restitution study has been ordered. Prosecutors have six months to determine how much in restitution Hudson will have to pay.
Note: The video above originally aired on Nov. 26, 2024.