The inmate accused of stabbing Derek Chauvin in federal prison last month said he carried out the attack on Black Friday due to a bizarre link between the Black Lives Matter movement and the annual shopping event.
The suspect, John Turscak, 52, attacked Chauvin in the law library at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona around 12:30 p.m. on November 24. He used an improvised knife to stab him approximately 22 times, according to the Associated Press.
Turscak told corrections officers he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly. Turscak also said he had been planning the attack for a month and decided to act on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to BLM.
“Turscak stated that his attack of (Derek Chauvin) on Black Friday was symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the “Black Hand” symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization,” according to the complaint.
The Black Lives Matter Movement garnered global support following the death of George Floyd in 2020 after Chauvin, a then-Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck and back for more than 9 minutes, ignoring his cries about being unable to breathe. Chauvin is serving two concurrent sentences in Floyd’s murder.
He was convicted on state charges of murder and manslaughter and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison in 2021. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Black Friday is a shopping event the takes place every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving where stores offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices. There is no connection between the Black Lives Matter Movement and Black Friday.
Turscak, who was scheduled to complete his current prison sentence in 2026, was slapped with several additional charges related to Chauvin’s stabbing including, attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.
“Attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder violations each carry maximum penalties of 20 years’ incarceration, while assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each carry maximum penalties of 10 years’ incarceration,” according to the District of Arizona’s US Attorney’s Office.
Turscak led a faction of the Mexican Mafia in the Los Angeles area in the late 1990s and went by the nickname “Stranger,” the AP reports citing court records. He became an informant for the FBI in 1997 but was later dropped by the agency because he was still engaging in criminal activities. In 2001, he pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiring to kill a gang rival.
