A 31-year-old from Kansas City was arrested Sunday in Carver after stabbing a Fleet Farm employee in the neck, according to a news release from the Carver County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded to a reported assault at the Fleet Farm around 2:06 p.m. There, they found a 17-year-old store employee who had been stabbed in the neck.

The girl was brought to the hospital, where she was last reported to be in stable condition, according to authorities.

Stephanie Armstrong’s husband and daughter went to Fleet Farm on Sunday to run errands and came home with a shocking story.

“My husband was inside and was just shopping, and all of a sudden heard a young girl really yelling that ‘He stabbed me,’” Armstrong, who lives in Waconia, said. “So very scary and shocking.”

“Hoping and praying that she [the victim] heals fully and that she’s able to kind of cross that bridge and go back to work at some point and resume her normal life. Certainly wasn’t fair,” Armstrong said.

Officials said the 31-year-old male suspect from Kansas left the scene before deputies arrived.

Armstrong says her daughter saw it happen. “He came out, the suspect, and got in the car right next to her and took off,” Armstrong said. “That’s the sad part is you just don’t feel like you have to be on guard, until you hear things like that. Then, you realize life can change in a second, and you really do have to be aware of your surroundings.”

A witness was able to give officers the suspect’s vehicle description and license plate number. Deputies later pulled the man over and arrested him.

Jail records show that Gerald Dwayne Hudson was booked into the jail on suspicion of second-degree assault.

Authorities say there is no known connection between the suspect and the employee.