Killing brings terrorism charge
Suspect ‘prowled’ NYC streets, DA says
A sword-wielding racist who traveled to New York City and allegedly killed a homeless black man was charged Monday with state terrorism charges — a rarity — in a crime that prosecutors decried as an assault on personal and racial freedom.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office filed first- and seconddegree murder as an act of terror- ism charges against James Jackson, 28. Terrorism charges are typically filed at the federal level and are reserved for suspects who planned mass attacks, anti-abortion killings or eco-terrorism. Among the most famous domestic terror cases are the Unabomber attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Charleston church shooting.
Jackson was originally charged with run-of-the-mill murder charges, but prosecutors upgraded the ante to terrorism Monday. He was depicted in an indictment as an assassin who traveled from his Baltimore home for one simple reason: the scouting and killing of a black person on the streets of New York.
“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,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance wrote in announcing the charges, which include a count of murder in the second degree as a hate crime.
Stabbed in the attack March 20 was Timothy Caughman.