Customer stabs Missouri water department worker

A southeast Missouri man is charged with stabbing a city water department bookkeeper because his water had been shut off.

KFVS-TV reports that 50-year-old Richard Jaworski was arrested while sitting on his front porch shortly after the stabbing around 11:15 a.m. Thursday. The bookkeeper, Elizabeth Hardesty, was out of surgery by early evening at a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Jaworski was held without bond on multiple charges including assault and armed criminal action. He did not yet have a lawyer and does not have a listed phone number.

Witnesses said Jaworski carried a large knife into the water department office, stabbed Hardesty repeatedly, then left the building.

Police Chief Tony Jones made the arrest. He says Jaworski told him he stabbed Hardesty because his water was turned off.

This story was originally published June 27, 2014 at 6:56 AM with the headline "Customer stabs Missouri water department worker."