Woman Charged in Brutal Brooklyn Park Stabbing
via Hennepin County Jail
A Brooklyn Park woman is behind bars after a brutal, broad-daylight stabbing at a convenience store left a man with a knife lodged in his neck.
via Google Maps
The attack unfolded the morning of Sunday, Oct. 13 around 9:33 a.m., when officers rushed to the Speedy Market & Tobacco at 7401 Regent Ave North.
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According to panicked 911 callers, a woman wearing a red coat had viciously stabbed a man and taken off running towards the Huntington Apartments. The details were chilling: the knife was still sticking out of the victim's neck as he struggled to keep breathing.
One witness told police he had stopped by the convenience store for coffee with a friend when the victim approached him, asking for a few dollars because his credit card wasn’t working. The witness handed over some cash, thinking nothing of it.
A woman, later identified as Unique Jeaneane Pernell, 29, followed the victim into the store. The witness said it didn’t seem like they knew each other.
Minutes later, the victim came back outside to chat with the witness and his friend, when without warning, Pernell allegedly stormed out of the business, walked straight up to the victim and plunged a kitchen knife into his neck. Witnesses said there was no argument, no shouting—just the cold, calculated violence.
Pernell didn’t stick around. She calmly walked across Brooklyn Boulevard and disappeared in the direction of the Huntington Place Apartments, leaving the victim bleeding on the ground. Multiple witnesses inside and outside the store, including employees, saw the carnage happen. Some captured it on camera, handing over footage to police that left little doubt about what had taken place.
The victim was rushed to North Memorial Hospital, where doctors worked to surgically remove the knife from his neck. Brooklyn Park police launched a manhunt for the woman in the red coat but they didn’t have to search long. Officers tracked down Pernell just a few blocks away, near the 5800 block of 73rd Avenue North, and arrested her without further incident.
The victim survived the initial attack, but the full extent of his injuries remains unknown. Pernell is in custody at the Hennepin County Jail, facing a felony second-degree assault charge. Her next court appearance is set for Nov. 14, 2024.
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