Asian Indiana University Student Stabbed Multiple Times in a Racially-Motivated Attack

Police in Bloomington, Indiana, say they detained a 56-year-old white woman after she allegedly admitted to stabbing an Asian Indiana University Student multiple times in the head in a hate crime.

Police officers say they were able to track down and apprehend Bloomington resident Billy R. Davis, 56, after a witness to the assault followed the victim as she escaped from the Bloomington Transit bus.

In a criminal complaint acquired by ABC affiliate WRTV in Indianapolis, Davis is said to have admitted to stabbing the 18-year-old victim with a folding knife, telling investigators that she did so because she wanted "one less person to blow up our country."

Mayor of Bloomington, John Hamilton, released a statement condemning the incident, adding, "We stand with the Asian community and all who feel threatened by this event."

What Happened During the Attack?

According to Bloomington Police Department, the racially-motivated attack occurred around 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday on the bus.

The Indiana University student, whose identity has not been revealed, told police that she was attacked when she got off the bus on Fourth Street in downtown Bloomington, not far from the Indiana University campus, according to NBC News.

The police claimed that the footage showed no prior contact between Davis and the victim before the incident.

According to court filings, Davis stabbed the student "approximately seven times" before leaving the bus.

According to authorities, the Asian Indiana University student had many stab wounds to the head, was bleeding heavily, and needed to be taken to the hospital.

According to online court documents, Davis has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and assault with a deadly weapon.

Meanwhile, it was unclear whether the accused woman had legal representation. The Monroe County, Indiana public defender's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Threats to Asian American Lives Are Not New

The recent incident shook the Asian American community in Indiana in a way that was all too familiar.

A guy who planned to start "an ethnic cleansing" in Nashville, Indiana, attacked Yue Zhang, then 18 years old, with a hatchet in 2016.

Won Joon Yoon, a graduate student, was murdered by a self-professed white supremacist outside of a church in 1999.

Reported hate crimes against people of Asian heritage in the United States have been rising since 2020, so this racially motivated attack is no surprise.

State officials in Indiana have been hesitant to recognize the severity of anti-Asian violence, according to Melissa Borja, president of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum in Indiana.

"Our initial reaction is just frustration that we have to do the things we've done over and over again, which is issue statements, respond to a grieving community and continue to state what we said for a long time," Borja told NPR.

It has been a year since the fatal spa accident in Atlanta, and the Asian American communities there have grown closer.

Hamilton called the attack a "racially-motivated incident" and said his city's administration is doing what it can to help the victim and the local Asian population.

"I want to state categorically that here in the city of Bloomington, we deplore any form of racism and discrimination, especially hate-based violence," he said in a statement released on Saturday.

James Wimbush, vice president for diversity, equality, and multicultural affairs at Indiana University, echoed this sentiment, saying that the attack "sadly reminded that anti-Asian hate is real and can have painful impacts on individuals and our community."

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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