Police investigating fatal stabbing of woman in her 70s in south Minneapolis

Minneapolis police are searching for a suspect they say fatally stabbed an elderly woman Wednesday morning near Peavey Park, a spokesman said.

John Elder, the spokesman, said that the attack happened about 9:40 a.m. near a bus stop at Chicago and Franklin avenues, across the street from Peavey Park. After someone called 911, officers arrived and started CPR on the woman, believed to be in her 70s, before paramedics rushed her to a nearby hospital. She later died, Elder said.

He said that it was too soon in the investigation to say with any certainty what led up to the assault, but he added that investigators were looking to see whether the attack was connected to any other incidents in the area.

Officials say that a 77-year-old man was also stabbed around the same time, near E. 22nd Street and Park Avenue, which is on the other side of the park from where the homicide occurred. In that assault, a suspect was said to have walked up to the victim and asked for a cigarette before stabbing the man, officials said.

"We're checking to see if the suspect description matches, but we haven't made that tie yet," Elder said.

The death was the city's 15th homicide of 2021, compared with the eight the city had at this time last year.

Libor Jany