“Words cannot describe the pain and hurt I have been feeling,” the woman’s supervisor said.
A Minnesota woman was killed in her workplace parking lot after rejecting a coworker's advances, according to police.
Nicole Hammond, 28, was found in a parking lot with a gunshot wound after police reported to the scene of the shooting, according to a St. Cloud police statement.
The responding officers performed life-saving measures on Hammond but she died at the scene, the statement reported.
Police say they were able to identify a suspect based on a witness at the scene and later located 36-year-old Michael Jordan Carpenter, in a neighboring town and brought him into custody.
A handgun matching the brand and style of the shell casings on the scene was found during the arrest, according to the statement of probable cause filed by prosecutors.
After a search of Hammond's phone by police, they found texts from the victim to Carpenter rejecting his advances, according to the probable cause statement.
“[Hammond] did not want to be touched by the defendant, nor did she want to be manipulated by him,” the court document alleges. Other coworkers also noted that Carpenter made several advances at Hammond which she repeatedly turned down over the past month, the document said.
Police also found texts from Hammond to another person stating Carpenter was mad at her, the document alleges. Carpenter was described as having a bad temper by his coworkers, according to the probable cause statement.
Savannah Townely, a supervisor at Dubow Inc., the company Hammond and Carpenter worked for, shared her feelings in a Facebook post after losing a cherished coworker.
“Words cannot describe the pain and hurt I have been feeling these last 2 days. Nicole Hammond, you were such a beautiful, smart, determined young woman. You deserved to live your best life but instead got your life taken from you,” said Townley.
Carpenter has been charged with second-degree murder for the death of Hammond and was released from jail on a conditional release bail of $2,000,000. He is set to appear in court on Nov. 8, according to court documents.
Inside Edition Digital reached out to the clerk's office and was told Carpenter has not entered a plea yet.
When we reached out to Carpenter's attorney's office, Inside Edition Digital was told he would not comment.
