CNN
,
The suspect in an unprovoked attack reportedly said he was motivated by race when he repeatedly stabbed the victim — an Asian student at Indiana University — on a city bus last week, according to court documents and a student group.
appears to be the latest example of Rise in anti-Asian discrimination Nationwide, Billy Davis, 56, who is white, has been charged with murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon in the Jan. 11 attack in Bloomington, court records obtained by CNN affiliate WTHR Display. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Davis and the victim were riding separately on the bus, and when the victim tried to get out, Davis got up from his seat nearby and allegedly struck the victim in the head with a folding knife, causing puncture wounds , a probable cause affidavit says.
The affidavit states that Davis later allegedly told investigators that he used the knife to stab the victim because she was Chinese, “It would be one less person to blow up our country.”
After the stabbing, Davis got off the bus, walked away and dropped the knife before officers reached him, it states. According to the documents, the victim was taken to the hospital; His status is not known.
The document states that surveillance footage from the bus did not show any confrontation between Davis and the victim prior to the attack.
City and university officials have condemned the attack, which comes amid a rising tide of alleged harassment and attacks against Asian Americans in the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, reports of hate crimes against Asians in the country’s 16 largest cities and counties increased by 164% over the previous year. A study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino,
prime example may be fatal 2021 shooting of eight people, mostly Asian women, at the Atlanta-area spa where prosecutors are pursuing hate crime charges based on the gender and race of the victims. Last week in New York City, a man pleaded guilty murder as a hate crime and agreed to serve 22 years in prison in April 2021 for assaulting a Chinese-American man, while the other man pleaded guilty A Chinese woman faces first-degree murder and 20 years in prison for hitting her with a rock in 2021.
Following last week’s bus attack, the mayor of Bloomington condemned hate-based violence and acknowledged that “a racially motivated incident like this … can make us feel less safe.”
John Hamilton said, “We stand with the Asian community and all those who feel threatened by this incident.” in a statement on Saturday,
The attack reminded the city that “anti-Asian hate is real and can have painful effects on individuals and our community,” said James Wimbush, Indiana University’s vice president of diversity, equity and multicultural affairs.
“No one should face harassment or violence because of their background, ethnicity or heritage,” Wimbush said in a statementAdding, “To our Asian and Asian American friends, allies, students and neighbors, we stand firmly with you.”
The Indiana University Asian Culture Center is “outraged and appalled by this unprovoked act of violence,” according to a statement Who identified the victim as an 18-year-old Asian student. “We shouldn’t have to fear for our lives on public transportation. Taking the bus shouldn’t feel dangerous.
“The fact that the perpetrator announced that the motivation for his attack was race sends a shockwave through our Asian community,” the center said. “But it’s becoming a familiar jolt.”