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Restaurant worker stabs man asking for food, Missouri cops say. ‘Get a job’

Police tape stretched across a scene.
Police tape stretched across a scene. Getty Images/iStockphoto

An employee at a popular Missouri pizza chain restaurant pursued and stabbed a man asking for food, police say.

Jakob McKeage, an employee at Imo’s Pizza in Ferguson, was approached by a man asking for food during closing time on Aug. 12, court documents said.

After employees informed the man there was no food, McKeage told him to “get a job” before the man went to the dumpster behind the restaurant, the Ferguson Police Department said in the complaint.

Police said that’s when McKeage grabbed a kitchen knife as he went to take trash to the dumpster. He encountered the man and lunged at him after the victim asked for food a second time.

The man slapped McKeage, police said, and attempted to run away, leading to McKeage chasing him down and stabbing him on his right side.

According to the complaint, McKeage returned to the kitchen and washed the knife before putting it back in the knife block.

After a witness discovered the victim, he was taken to a hospital, where he received a blood transfusion due to blood loss, court documents say.

McKeage confessed to the stabbing, police say, and was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. His bond was set at $100,000, according to the defendant’s arrest warrant.

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This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Restaurant worker stabs man asking for food, Missouri cops say. ‘Get a job’."

TJ Macias
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
TJ Macías is a Real-Time national sports reporter for McClatchy based out of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Formerly, TJ covered the Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers beat for numerous media outlets including 24/7 Sports and Mavs Maven (Sports Illustrated). Twitter: @TayloredSiren
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