Grocery store employee stabs coworker several times inside store, New Jersey cops say

A grocery store employee stabbed a coworker several times inside the store’s deli department, police in New Jersey said.

Officers were told the stabbing possibly followed an altercation between the pair, according to a news release from the Clark Police Department.

A female ShopRite employee suffered multiple stab wounds from another female employee at the supermarket chain’s location in Clark, 22 miles west of New York City, on Sunday,Jan. 2,police said on Monday, Jan. 3.

Melissa Prince, 57, was immediately arrested after police arrived, according to authorities.

The injured worker was taken to University Hospital in Newark where she’s in “critical, but stable condition,” police said.

The stabbing was the result of a longstanding argument between the two employees, Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso told New Jersey101.5.

Prince followed her coworker around inside the store with a knife before attacking her with it, Bonaccorso said, according to the outlet.

Prince is charged with first-degree attempted murder, second-degree aggravated assault, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, police said.

She is being detained while awaiting a court hearing, police said, and detectives are investigating the stabbing.

“Sadly, we can confirm that an associate was assaulted by another associate during an incident that occurred at the store on Sunday,” Maureen Gillespie, a ShopRite spokesperson, told McClatchy News in a statement. “Our staff and an off-duty state trooper in the store reacted quickly by intervening and contacting police, who responded within minutes.”

“We are still learning more about the Jan. 2 incident incident and cooperating fully with law enforcement on their investigation. We thank our fast-acting associates for intervening and helping secure the area.”

ShopRite stores are located in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 1:38 PM.

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.