Man fatally stabbed in apparent random attack at Edina bus stop is ID'd

Officials on Friday identified the man stabbed to death at an Edina bus stop Wednesday evening in what police said was a random encounter that quickly turned violent.

Christian Lundegaard, 62, of Richfield was fatally attacked about 7 p.m. in the 6700 block of York Avenue S., according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.

Edina police said officers found Lundegaard seriously injured at the bus stop next to Cub Foods. He was taken to HCMC, where he was soon declared dead.

A 32-year-old St. Paul man was arrested at the scene and remained jailed Friday on suspicion of murder and awaiting charges. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

Court records show that the man has been convicted numerous times for various crimes, including burglary, theft, disorderly conduct, trespassing and property damage. The records also show he's been civilly committed twice in recent years for mental illness and chemical dependence.

The suspect is due in Hennepin County District Court on Monday stemming from charges of gross-misdemeanor trespassing and related lesser counts stemming from when he allegedly entered a door in the baggage area of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport at 4:40 a.m. on Feb. 1.

Lundegaard was the brother of Karen Lundegaard, a Star Tribune metro editor. He also was the son of Bob Lundegaard, a longtime Minneapolis Tribune reporter and movie writer who retired in 1989. His stepmother, Ingrid Sundstrom Lundegaard, is also a retired Star Tribune journalist.

Karen Lundegaard said police told her that they don't believe her brother and the suspect "ever had contact with each other before."

She said that according to police, exterior surveillance video showed the two men "were sitting on the bus stop bench, words were exchanged, punches and then Christian was stabbed multiple times.

"I can't [imagine] him alone at a bus stop down by the side of the road," Lundegaard said of her brother's final moments.

She said her brother had just shopped at Cub and was going to bring non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice for a family Thanksgiving gathering the next day.

She said he had been sober for the past 10 years, a feat she said was "one of his biggest accomplishments."

Lundegaard said that as part of her brother's continued recovery, he would speak to their father every Sunday at 11 a.m. She said he had a steady job with FedEx and had just paid off the condo where he lived.

"After years of being an alcoholic, when he decided to stop drinking, he also stopped smoking," she said. "He decided it was time to turn his life around."