A man targeted for robbery while using an outdoor ATM after dark in Minneapolis was stabbed and seriously wounded while fighting the perpetrator, according to police.
Man targeted for robbery at outdoor ATM in Minneapolis fights back, is stabbed and severely wounded
Police have collected video surveillance from the E. Lake Street bank as they continue to pursue an arrest.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 29, 2025 at 8:04PM
The attack on the 59-year-old Minneapolis man occurred on Dec. 27 shortly after 10:30 p.m. at the Huntington Bank in the 3100 block of E. Lake Street, a police report released Wednesday said.
Police have collected video surveillance from the bank as they continue the pursuit of an arrest.
The victim suffered “a large puncture wound on the right side of [his] torso,” police said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court, clearing the way for police to review the video from that night.
According to the affidavit and the police report:
While standing at the bank’s ATM withdrawing money, the man noticed a male he didn’t know standing nearby.
Once the cash was withdrawn, the perpetrator “rushed him and threatened him, demanding money.”
The man refused to give up the cash, fought with the attacker and was stabbed with what the victim described as a sharpened screwdriver. Police have not said whether the assailant got away with any money.
Officers met the victim at HCMC for treatment of what police said was a “severe laceration.”
ATMs totaled more than 500,000 across the country as of September 2023, according to the ATM Industry Association, which bills itself as the global industry’s leading nonprofit trade organization.
Law enforcement offers numerous safety tips for ATM users to follow. They include:
- Observe surroundings before conducting a transaction and look around for suspicious people or vehicles.
- When possible, do not use an outside machine. Use machines that are inside a locked space that is well lit.
- Try not to visit a machine alone.
- Do not count or visibly display any money received from the ATM. Immediately put the money into a pocket or purse.
- If involved in a confrontation with an assailant who demands your money, comply and report the crime to the police.
“This was a senseless attack on members of our LGBTQ+ community,” County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement.
