Inmate accused of stabbing Mr. Chauvin 22 times.
A former FBI informant stabbed Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, according to court documents filed on Dec. 1.
John Turscak, 52, stabbed Mr. Chauvin 22 times with an “improvised knife” at a federal prison in Arizona on Nov. 24, according to the documents.
Mr. Turscak was subdued by responding corrections officers.
He later told officers he would’ve killed Mr. Chauvin if officers hadn’t responded so quickly, federal prosecutors said in the documents.
Mr. Turscak waived his Miranda rights and told FBI agents in an interview that he didn’t want to kill Mr. Chauvin but had been thinking about attacking him for about one month and saw an opportunity to do so when both were in the law library at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tucson, on the day after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Black Friday.
“Turscak stated that his attack of [Mr. Chauvin] on Black Friday was symbolic with the Black Lives Matter Movement and the ‘black hand’ symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization,” prosecutors said.
Mr. Turscak was charged with four counts, including assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to commit murder. He was moved after the stabbing to an adjacent federal penitentiary in Tucson, where he remained in custody on Dec. 1, inmate records show.
Mr. Turscak didn’t have a lawyer listed on the court docket.
A lawyer for Mr. Chauvin didn’t return an inquiry about the charges.
Federal officials have said an inmate at the Tucson facility was rushed to a hospital after being stabbed on Nov. 24. They said they wouldn’t identify the inmate.
“For privacy and safety reasons, we are not providing the name of the victim or their medical status,” a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
Minnesota officials had said that Mr. Chauvin was the inmate and that he was expected to survive.
Carolyn Pawlenty, Mr. Chauvin’s mother, wrote on Facebook on Dec. 1 that she’s seeking answers regarding the stabbing.
