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Man charged with murder in stabbing death of Salt Lake convenience store clerk

(Photo courtesy Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office) Tukka M. Gonne has been charged with murder in the death of a Maverik convenience store clerk.

A Salt Lake City man has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of a Maverik convenience store clerk on July 3.

Tukka M. Gonne, 21, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; and aggravated assault, a second-degree felony.

At about 3:30 a.m. on July 3, 40-year-old Joseph Allen, a clerk at the Maverik at 1270 S. Main Street, and a friend who was visiting him confronted four men outside the store. According to police, surveillance video shows Allen and his friend approaching the men; the friend “swings or throws” a “metal rod” that he is carrying at them; the friend is “knocked to the ground” by one of the men; and “a fight ensues.”

According to charging documents, Allen and his friend were near the Maverik’s ice machine when Gonne “came running up with a large knife in his hand.” He can be seen on the video “making thrusting motions with the knife” at the two, while the other men fled. Gonne is seen dropping and then picking up the knife before he left the scene; the weapon has not been located.

Allen was carried into the store, where he collapsed and died. His friend suffered “several” stab wounds, but was transported to a hospital and survived.

Gonne was arrested shortly after 4 a.m. the same day. According to police, he admitted he is the person seen in the surveillance video, and that “a fight did break out between him and the store clerk and ‘another white guy.’”

Gonne is also facing charges of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail, and his bail was set at $1 million.

No one else has been charged with any crimes related to the incident.