'I did it:' Man admits to stabbing Family Dollar clerk to death during robbery

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WTVC) — Police say a man charged with stabbing a Family Dollar worker to death Thursday morning told an officer who caught up with him "I did it."

Police arrested 33-year-old Patrick Bernard Cunningham shortly after he threw his murder weapon on the roof of a nearby liquor store, according to a police report. Officers later recovered that bloody knife from that roof.

Officers were called to the Family Dollar on 5000 Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, Tennessee shortly after 9 a.m.

There, they were told a man in a white shirt and grey jogging pants who tried to rob the store stabbed a clerk and ran away.

Just a few minutes later, an officer confronted Cunningham, who fit the suspect's description. The report says

Upon contact with, he mentioned to Officer Mills that, 'I did it.'

The Family Dollar employee who was stabbed 3 times behind the cash register was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared her dead less than an hour later.

Back at the store, officers watched surveillance video show the bloody and chaotic scene that unfolded just a few minutes earlier.

The affidavit says the video showed Cunningham

..walk behind the registers of the store towards the victim and two other employees. The employees can be seen attempting to get away from the suspect, but the victim falls on the floor. At this point, the suspect can be observed stabbing the victim at least three time as she is on the floor. The suspect eventually leaves the store without harming any other customer or employee.

Later, the report says officers interviewed the store manager.

She advised that the suspect entered the store stating "give me the money" and "do you know who I am?"

She reported that the victim tripped over a basket on the floor, causing her to fall to the floor before she was stabbed.

The clerk told officers Cunningham tried to open the cash register, but couldn't.

The report says that clerk later recognized Cunningham as the suspect as he sat in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Police charged Cunningham with first degree murder and especially aggravated robbery.