Former Ballet Dancer Killed in Grocery Store After Being Impaled by Golf Club, Suspect Arrested

Robert Skafte, 66, was working as a clerk at the store when he was killed

<p>Robert Skafte Facebook</p> Robert Skafte

Robert Skafte Facebook

Robert Skafte

A former ballet dancer working as a grocery store clerk in Minneapolis was killed after he was impaled by a golf club Friday, the city’s police department says.

The victim was identified as Robert Skafte, 66, in a report from the Star Tribune. He was found by first responders with a golf club impaled through his torso, the police department says.

Police say they arrested a 44-year-old suspect following a six-hour standoff at a nearby apartment. Minneapolis police did not release the suspect’s name.

Skafte was working as a cashier at the time of the incident, the Star Tribune reported, citing police.

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A motive has not yet been identified for the crime, but police say they are “working to determine what transpired leading up to the murder.”

Skafte trained in ballet at the Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica, Calif., according to the school’s website. He performed with Kansas City Ballet from 1984 to 1994 before moving to Minneapolis, where he danced with Ballet of the Dolls.

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"We are broken,” Skafte’s friend Gladys Torres told the Star Tribune. “Our hearts are broken.”

A friend and a fellow ballet dancer posted a tribute to Skafte on Facebook, calling him “one of the sweetest souls to ever exist.

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“Robert and I danced together so many times over the past 20 years,” wrote Valerie Torres. “The entire Ballet of the Dolls family is just devastated by what has so cruelly happened to our dear Robert. I am still in complete shock and it all feels like the most horrible nightmare ever.”

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