MINNEAPOLIS — The father of 62-year-old Chris Lundegaard will miss their weekly phone conversations every Sunday, at 11 a.m., on the dot.
"Not 10:59. Not 11:01. In fact, I'd sometimes kid him and say, 'You're two minutes late,' and he'd say, 'No, not by my clock.'"
Retired Star Tribune movie critic Bob Lundegaard said he and his meticulous son Chris would talk films and other interests.
That tradition, along with many others, are now gone after Chris was violently killed at an Edina bus stop the night before Thanksgiving.
"It's a torment basically. It's very tough," Bob said.
The man charged with the crime is 32-year-old Adam Garcia, who has a long history of mostly non-violent crimes, however, one prior conviction is eerily similar.
In October 2019 at the University of Minnesota, a student was studying in the medical library at Diehl Hall when he grew uneasy by Garcia watching him. After speaking with security, the student was stabbed in the leg from behind by a hypodermic needle.
The criminal complaint said when police found a man matching the description of the attacker, later identified as Garcia, he pulled out a long knife and fought with officers. One officer was wounded by the knife.
After it was learned Garcia was positive for Hepatitis C, the student and the officer were both prescribed preventative medications.
"And I question whether not enough attention was paid at that time to make sure he was not going to do this again," Bob said.
After that incident, Garcia was temporarily civilly committed with a doctor pointing to "methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder," among other mental and chemical dependency disorders. A judge wrote Garcia "poses a substantial likelihood of causing physical harm" as a result.
But late last year, Garcia was discharged from probation.
"I think it's a shame that he didn't apparently get any help," Bob said.
Now Chris' family will follow the court case, while remembering the happy memories of their loved one, who was taken so senselessly away.
"He just was a good human being," added Chris's stepmother, Ingrid Sundstrom Lundegaard.
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