Suspect Charged With Murder in the First and Second Degrees As an Act of Terrorism, Murder in the Second Degree As a Hate Crime, Among Other Charges, For Fatally Stabbing Timothy Caughman
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of James Jackson, 28, for fatally stabbing 66-year-old Timothy Caughman on March 20, 2017. Jackson is charged in New York State Supreme Court with one count each of Murder in the First and Second Degrees as an Act of Terrorism, Murder in the Second Degree as a Hate Crime, as well as three counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon.
“James Jackson prowled the streets of New York for three days in search of a black person to assassinate in order to launch a campaign of terrorism against our Manhattan community and the values we celebrate,” said District Attorney Vance. “Last week, with total presence of mind, he acted on his plan, randomly selecting a beloved New Yorker solely on the basis of his skin color, and stabbing him repeatedly and publicly on a Midtown street corner. James Jackson wanted to kill black men, planned to kill black men, and then did kill a black man. He chose Midtown as his crime scene because Manhattan is the media capital of the world, and a place where people of different races live together and love one another. We must never take for granted New York’s remarkable diversity. We must celebrate it, protect it, and refuse to let violence and hate undermine the progress we have made as a city, a state, and a nation.”
