DENVER -- An 80-year-old King Soopers employee was stabbed in the back during what police said was a completely random attack outside the store Monday morning.

The attack happened around 2:50 a.m. outside the store at West 103rd Avenue and Federal Boulevard in Westminster, police said.

The attacker, a Hispanic man in his late 20s, was loitering in the parking lot prior to the assault, said Wayne Read of the Westminster Police Department.

"All indications are this is a completely random and unprovoked attack," Read said.

The man had been seen in the parking lot two other times prior to the assault, Read said.

Police said Ryan Patrick Nichols, 26, was arrested in connection with the stabbing. He was taken into custody Monday night in the 3000 block of W. 107th Place. Nichols was arrested for investigation of first-degree assault and crimes against at-risk adults.

Police did not release a condition on the stabbing victim. The victim's daughter told The Denver Post her father is recovering.