A Maryland man turned himself in for the fatal stabbing of a man he came across on the street. He told police that he had traveled to New York specifically to kill black men.
28-year-old James Harris Jackson has been charged with the murder of Timothy Caughman, 66, according to The Washington Post. On Monday, Jackson ran into Caughman around 11 p.m. and stabbed him several times with a 26-inch sword. Caughman went to a police precinct for help and was taken to Bellevue Hospital, but he died there due to his injuries.
Jackson told police he killed Caughman because of his race and that the killing was "practice," according to CNN. He also said he was planning to kill more black men at Times Square.
Police say that Jackson's attack was strategically calculated to get attention. “The reason why he picked New York is [because] it’s the media capital of the world,” Assistant Chief of the NYPD William Aubry said. “And he wanted to make a statement.”
Jackson is a Baltimore resident and military veteran. He served in the army for over three years and also worked as a military intelligence analyst, according to the Post.
“Based on statements that he made as well as a preliminary review of video, it reveals that the attack on Timothy Caughman was clearly racially motivated,” Aubry said. “It’s well over 10 years that he’s been harboring these feelings of hate towards male blacks,” Aubry added.
Caughman lived in a transitional house. According to his Twitter, he was a music and movie lover and autograph collector who tweeted about John Lennon, Chuck Berry and visiting California, NBC New York reports.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called the hate crime "more than an unspeakable human tragedy” that was "an assault" on the city’s inclusiveness and diversity. “Now it’s our collective responsibility to speak clearly and forcefully in the face of intolerance and violence—here or across the country,” Mayor de Blasio said. “We are a safe city because we are inclusive. We are a nation of unrivaled strength because we are diverse. No act of violence can undermine who we are.”