Lansing man dies a month after being stabbed during Quality Dairy mask dispute

LANSING — A Lansing man who was stabbed at a Quality Dairy store last month during a dispute over face masks has died, his son said. 

John Duncan III, 77, was in critical condition after being stabbed July 14 by a man who refused to wear a mask inside the Quality Dairy store at Lansing Road and North Canal Road, police said. 

Duncan died Saturday, his son, Jeff Blastic, said. 

Duncan was in the QD just before 7 a.m. July 14 when Sean Ruis, 43, of Grand Ledge, was confronted by an employee about not wearing a mask, Michigan State Police Lt. Brian Oleksyk said. July 14 was the second day of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's mandate that masks be worn inside businesses. 

The initial assault: Police: Mask confrontation leads to stabbing, suspect fatally shot by Eaton County deputy

The day after: Quality Dairy stabbing victim, 77, in critical but stable condition

Clearing things up: Quality Dairy posts message describing what happened during stabbing incident

MSP initially said Duncan and Ruis had a confrontation about the mask, but officials from QD said that was not true. He was an "innocent bystander," QD officials said in a Facebook post. 

"The assailant had been asked by a staff member to wear a mask in the store and he refused," QD officials wrote. "He then attacked the other gentleman. At no point did the injured gentleman address the assailant in any way. Contrary to some reporting, the injured man did not confront the assailant, follow him outside or even speak to him.

Duncan was wearing a mask, but Ruis was not. 

A 911 call, made by a Quality Dairy employee who had locked herself in her car, said one customer stabbed another inside the store, then drove away. Customers were in the store at the time, she said. 

"The guy was threatening all of us, so I got in my car to call so that he didn't come after me while I was calling," the QD employee said.

The woman told the dispatcher the older man was alert, but had been stabbed in the neck repeatedly. 

When an Eaton County Sheriff's Department deputy stopped Ruis about a half hour later in Delta Township, he got out of his vehicle and walked toward the deputy holding two knives and a screwdriver, police said. The weapons are clearly visible in video recorded by the deputy's body camera. 

The deputy fired multiple rounds at Ruis as he came closer and tried to grab her gun, according to a video and a still photo released by police. He died during surgery.

MSP's investigation into Ruis' death remains pending, Oleksyk said. Investigators are waiting on lab analysis and a review from the prosecutor's office. 

When Whitmer addressed the stabbing during a news conference, she said mask-wearing — something that should be a simple task — has become unnecessarily political. 

"I cannot ever pretend that I understand someone who would become murderous over wearing a piece of cloth your face, but what I can say is that violence is never the solution," she said. "We can disagree on a lot of things but we all have to recognize this is one simple task [we can do] for the greater good, for our individual good, that will make a huge difference."

Contact reporter Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.