Newly filed charge details random fatal stabbing attack at Edina bus stop

A man with a history of mental illness and drug abuse was charged Tuesday with fatally stabbing a man at a bus stop last week in Edina.

Adam Jami Garcia, 32, of Minneapolis, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the apparently random attack that killed Christian H. Lundegaard, 62, of Richfield.

While the criminal complaint details how the incident unfolded over a matter of a few minutes shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday, a motive remains unclear for the stabbing near a cluster of retail outlets in the 6700 block of S. York Avenue.

Garcia was arrested at the scene and remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail. He is due in court Wednesday afternoon. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

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 her brother had been sober for many years and had gained stability in his life. A chip marking his 10 years of sobriety was in his pocket when he was killed, she said.

"This act of violence has forever changed the rest of my life," said Bob Lundegaard. "I am so proud of Chris and the man he had become. I mourn that I will not be able to spend more time with him. It will not never hurt."

According to the criminal complaint:

Exterior video from several businesses showed the two men in a confrontation at the bus stop before Lundegaard tried to flee from Garcia.

Garcia moved toward the fleeing Lundegaard, and the two got in a scuffle. Garcia struck Lundegaard and sent him to the pavement. Garcia then collected items on the pavement and walked away.

A bus driver who pulled up to the stop shortly after Lundegaard was stabbed told officers that he observed Lundegaard crouched down and then saw "something hit [Lundegaard] that caused him to fall," the complaint read.

The driver added that Lundegaard did not fight back "and appeared to be trying to protect himself," the complaint continued.

Police found the knife used to killed Lundegaard in a nearby sewer grate.

Lundegaard had been stabbed five times, including twice in the chest, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.

Court records show Garcia has been convicted numerous times for crimes including burglary, theft, disorderly conduct, trespassing and property damage.

He also was convicted of obstructing law enforcement and harassment with a dangerous weapon stemming from when he followed a man in a University of Minnesota library in 2019 and poked him in the leg with a sharp object. Police soon caught up with Garcia outside and arrested him but not before he inflicted knife wounds to one officer's hands.

In addition, court records show he was civilly committed twice in recent years for mental illness and chemical dependence, the first time when he overdosed three times within a month in 2020.

A psychological report leading to Garcia's first commitment to a treatment center in December 2020 determined he was abusing methamphetamine, opiates and cannabis, and was suffering from schizophrenia and other mental disorders that left him at risk of harming himself or others.