A man cleaning a table in a Lakewood Township residence was stabbed twice in the neck from behind and told he “had to die,” prosecutors say.

Richard Joseph McCorison Jr., 44, is charged in Saint Louis County District Court with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault, according to a complaint filed October 30.

According to the complaint, Saint Louis County sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence on N Tischer Road in Lakewood Township at about 4:34 p.m. on October 28 after a report of a stabbing. Deputies spoke with a man who told them McCorison had stabbed an adult male inside the home.

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Deputies found the victim with two penetrating wounds to the right side of his neck, each about one inch long. The victim was transported to the hospital, where investigators met with him. The victim told investigators he had been cleaning the table when McCorison came up behind him and stabbed him. The victim fell to the ground with McCorison on top of him and then felt another stab to his throat.

The complaint says McCorison told the victim he “had to die” and was “tearing the family apart.” McCorison also said he came there to kill the victim and that the victim deserved to die. The victim reported McCorison kicked him in the side several times and threatened to “do it again” before a woman intervened and pushed McCorison away.

The victim told investigators McCorison still had the knife in his hand and repeated that he was going to kill the victim. The victim said he needed an MRI because he could only move the left side of his body after the attack.

Prosecutors charged Richard Joseph McCorison Jr. with attempted first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing the victim with premeditation and intent to kill and first-degree assault for causing great bodily harm.

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Jurisdictional Context

Saint Louis County is Minnesota’s largest county by area, stretching from Duluth to the Canadian border. The Saint Louis County Attorney’s Office prosecutes felonies through the Sixth Judicial District; cases are heard at courthouses in Duluth, Hibbing and Virginia.