Army Veteran Is Charged With Murder as a Hate Crime in Fatal Stabbing

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/nyregion/man-fatally-stabbed-in-random-attack-had-loved-manhattan-relative-says.html

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A white Army veteran from Baltimore who fatally stabbed a black man in a racially motivated attack on Monday had traveled to New York in order to receive maximum media exposure for his plan to attack black men in Times Square, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

“He was particularly offended by black men who are with white women,” Joan Illuzzi, a prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said of James Harris Jackson, 28. “His intent was to kill as many black men here in New York in particular.”

Mr. Jackson, 28, was arraigned on Thursday afternoon in criminal court in Manhattan on a charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime. He is accused of killing Timothy Caughman, 66, of West 36th Street, who had been collecting bottles on Ninth Avenue when he was attacked around 11:15 p.m. Monday, officials said.

After he was stabbed, Mr. Caughman walked two blocks to the Midtown South Precinct, where he stumbled into the station house bleeding from wounds to his chest and back, the police said. Officers called an ambulance and Mr. Caughman was taken Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

In remembering Mr. Caughman, his cousin Seth Peek, of Queens, said he wanted people to know that Mr. Caughman had a full life.

“He wasn’t just a vagrant person collecting bottles,” Mr. Peek said. “That was not just what his life was. He went to college, and he was concerned with young people in the neighborhood.”

Mr. Peek said that Mr. Caughman grew up in Jamaica, Queens and, he believed, had earned an associate degree after attending colleges in Brooklyn and on Staten Island. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Caughman worked with young people in Queens in a program called the Neighborhood Youth Corps, Mr. Peek said.

His Twitter profile said he recycled cans and bottles and wanted to visit California.

Mr. Jackson surrendered to the police shortly after midnight on Wednesday after recognizing himself in a security camera video broadcast on the news, the police said.

“I’m the person you’re looking for,” he said to the police, according to Assistant Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan South detectives. Mr. Jackson told investigators where he had discarded the murder weapon, a 26-inch sword with an 18-inch blade, and told them he had knives in his pocket. Chief Aubry said the police had video evidence that seemed to corroborate Mr. Jackson’s account.

“He was very forthcoming with us,” Chief Aubry said. “He knew what he was doing when he was coming up here, and he relayed all of that information to us.”

The police found two knives in Mr. Jackson’s coat, and recovered the sword he said he used to kill Mr. Caughman, Chief Aubry said. Investigators were also seeking a warrant to search his cellphone and laptop. Mr. Jackson had a manifesto explaining his plans that he had wanted to deliver to The New York Times, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Mr. Jackson joined the Army in March 2009 and served for three and a half years, during which time he was awarded five medals for his service and conduct, according to Pentagon records. He was a specialist, the most common rank, and worked as an intelligence analyst.

While stationed in Germany, he was deployed for 11 months to Afghanistan, returning to Germany in November 2011. He left the Army the following August. A military spokeswoman said she could not release the condition of his discharge because it was protected under federal privacy law.

The attack on Mr. Caughman occurred as cities across the country, especially New York, grapple with a rise in hate crimes. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has condemned the attacks, denounced the killing, which he said appeared to be based solely on Mr. Caughman’s race.

“More than an unspeakable human tragedy, this is an assault on what makes this the greatest city in the world: our inclusiveness and our diversity,” he said.

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he was appalled by Mr. Caughman’s murder.

“Let me be very clear: This disturbing act of violence goes against everything New York stands for,” he said. “Not only must we repudiate this attack, but we must continue to deny that the ideas behind this cowardly crime have any place in democratic society.”