Law enforcement personnel arrested and charged a Louisiana student in relation to the stabbing of four people in what local authorities described as a "random act of violence."
The incident, which occurred at Louisiana Tech University, involved the suspect identified as Jacoby Johnson. Officials said that the attacker immediately fled the scene after the attack but was apprehended by campus police a few minutes later.
Louisiana Tech Stabbing
Law enforcement personnel said that the four victims in the recent stabbing attack included one graduate student and three individuals who were not students. They reportedly just left the campus recreation center when they were suddenly ambushed from behind at around 9:00 am on Monday.
It was later noted that one of the victims was hospitalized and was in critical condition; two others were hospitalized in serious but stable condition, while the fourth victim refused to be treated by medical professionals.
Louisiana Tech University said that the suspect was also sent to the hospital following the stabbing incident, as per ABC News. In a statement, Ruston Police Chief Randall Hermes said that the assailant seemed to have run up behind the victims and taken them by surprise.
The center where the four victims just came out of shortly before the incident, the Lambright Sports and Wellness Center, was meant for students and the Ruston community. Campus police received a call at 9:08 am and quickly arrested Johnson at around 9:12 am.
Investigation into the stabbing is still ongoing, and university officials are expected to provide an update on the matter at a later time, according to USA Today. The Louisiana stabbing comes after another similar incident that took place in Illinois when a landlord fatally stabbed a six-year-old Muslim boy.
That particular incident also included the mother of the young child as a victim of the assailant, who was identified as Joseph Czuba. The stabbing, which occurred last month, is believed to have been done as part of a hate crime amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
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Fatal Stabbing Incident
The landlord allegedly stabbed the boy 26 times using what law enforcement personnel described as a "military-style knife" and his mother more than a dozen times. It was an incident that United States President Joe Biden said "shocked and sickened" him.
The Democratic leader's statement also noted the young boy's Palestinian Muslim family who came to the U.S. seeking refuge and a place to live. He noted that the horrific act of hate had no place in the country and completely stood against its fundamental values.
Following the stabbings, the Department of Justice (DOJ) opened a federal hate crimes investigation. The deceased boy was later identified as Wadea Al-Fayoume, and his mother was Hanaan Shahin.
In a news release, local authorities said that the suspect stabbed the young boy in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield, Illinois. The Will County Sheriff's Office said that detectives were able to determine that both of the victims were targeted due to being Muslims as well as the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group, said the Voice of America News.
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