Accused BallenIsles stabber indicted
Teen charged with firstdegree murder, 2 counts of attempted murder.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — A grand jury Thursday indicted 17-yearold Corey Johnson on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in the March 12 stabbings that left one boy dead and two other people seriously injured at a home in BallenIsles Country Club.
The Jupiter teen has been in a juvenile detention center since the stabbings awaiting the decision on whether to charge him as an adult. He likely will be booked soon into the Palm Beach County Jail.
According to police documents, authorities knew about Johnson’s “violent tendencies” and reported interest in extremist groups such as the KKK and ISIS for years prior to his arrest. In fact, the FBI had planned to charge him after linking him to threats made on social media in October 2016 to kill “infidel” students at a Catholic high school in England.
Johnson told Palm Beach Gardens police that affronts to his Islamic faith motivated him to kill Jovanni Sierra, 13, and injure
his friend Kyle Bancroft’s mother, Elaine Simon, and brother, Dane Bancroft, during a sleepover at Kyle’s home on Sunset Bay Lane.
Johnson told police he is a Muslim and that Dane had “made fun” of how he practiced his faith, praying and kissing the ground. He also said he was upset that Jovanni, a friend of Dane who turned 13 years old on the day of the attack, had referred to celebrities as “gods,” which is contrary to Islam.
American Islamic leaders have repeatedly condemned expressions of their faith, the second largest in the world after Christianity, that involve violence and terror- ism, especially since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Johnson said he watched violent jihadist videos after other people in the house had gone to sleep and then turned to the Muslim holy book, the Quran, prior to the attacks “to give him courage to carry out his intentions.”
He said he first stabbed Jovanni with a knife he
had taken with him to the home. Shortly before 6 a.m. that Monday morning, Simon woke to hear what sounded like Jovanni moan- ing upstairs.
As Simon walked to the top of the stairs to investi- gate, Johnson lunged at her with a knife and stabbed her. Authorities said she was stabbed at least a dozen times and fell down the stairs.
Dane Bancroft ran to protect his mother. The 13-yearold was stabbed more than two dozen times, police said.
Someone ran to a neigh- bor’s home and called 911. Simon and Dane were taken to a trauma hospital for their injuries. Dane remains at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, and his father, Lucas Bancroft, said Thursday that he expects him to be released within the next several days. Simon is out of the hospital and is healing, he said. Kyle was not injured in the attacks.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help pay the medical bills for Dane and Simon, their family said.
After the attacks, Johnson barricaded himself in a room. He was taken into custody at about 8 a.m. by the city’s SWAT team. Police found Jovanni dead in the home.
Johnson is one of about two dozen juveniles to be charged as adults in Palm Beach County already in 2018. His behavior since middle school had drawn the attention of authorities, and the FBI and Jupiter police had been investigating the teen’s online activities in the months before the stabbings, records show.
In February, the FBI said it had all the evidence it needed and that an assistant U.S. attorney had probable cause to charge Johnson. As recently as March 5, a week before the attacks, federal agents told town police affidavits would be “coming in the next several weeks.”