Colleagues mourn the loss of woman shot and killed at her workplace in St. Cloud

A St. Cloud business is mourning the loss of one of their employees, after she was shot and killed by a co-worker in a parking lot on Monday.

“The tears are flowing, the hugs have come. Our team has bonded tremendously to get through the tragedy,” Rob Dubow, Dubow Textile CEO and owner, said. “Nicole was part of us.”

Days ago, the Dubow parking lot was the center of a crime scene, but now it’s a memorial to honor the life of Nicole Michelle Hammond. Hammond worked at Dubow Textile for over a year.

Her co-workers scribbled messages and others left flowers to remember a life that was cut short.

“She always had a smile on her face. She was loved by anybody that she had contact with,” Dubow said.

Monday morning, 28-year-old Hammond was shot and killed her co-worker Michael Jordan Carpenter. He was charged with murder.

The shooting happened at her job on Lincoln Avenue Northeast.

Authorities say Hammond’s phone revealed text messages between she and Carpenter from the night before saying she did not want to be touched or manipulated by Carpenter.

Court documents show officers learned Carpenter made numerous advances toward Hammond over the past month.

“We had no clue. We had zero clue there was any troubles in communications between staff members,” Dubow said.

Joe Shannon works for Violence Free Minnesota and oversees programs to help domestic violence victims.

He said this is the first rejection killing he’s seen in Minnesota within the past couple years. 

Domestic violence experts said these crimes are preventable, but it’s not on the victim to make the change.

“I think that is part of the problem always having to put the onus on the victim and what can they do to prevent it, rather than ‘What can men do to prevent this?’” Shannon said.