Prosecutors say the killing of a black man in Midtown on Monday was “most likely an act of terrorism.”
Army veteran James Harris Jackson, 28, is being charged with murder as a hate crime for repeatedly stabbing 66-year-old Timothy Caughman with a 26-inch sword late on Monday night.
Investigators say Jackson admitted to taking a bus from Baltimore to the Big Apple with the express intent to “target male blacks,” according to Chief of Manhattan South Detectives William Aubrey.
Jackson turned himself in a day after the slaying.
“His intent was to kill as many black men here in New York as he could,” prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon told Judge Herb Moses during an arraignment in Manhattan on Thursday.
Jackson appeared in court with a sneer on his face wearing a white Tyvek jumpsuit, grimacing and looking up at the ceiling during tense points. Jackson’s attorney claimed he is mentally unstable.
“If the facts are anything near what the allegations are, then we’re going to address obvious psychological issues present,” attorney Sanford Talkin said.
Moses sent Jackson to jail with no bail.