Justin A. Crow Jr. (Mugshot from Howard County Sheriff’s Office; Crime scene screenshot from Indianapolis’ Fox59)
A 20-year-old man accused of pepper spraying and cutting a bicyclist in the neck with a box knife, then fleeing after telling him he was “the wrong guy” told deputies he was going to kill him because he was “just done with people,” authorities alleged.
Justin A. Crow Jr., 20, of Jonesboro, Tennessee, faces attempted murder charges in the attack that hospitalized Ryan Cummins, 48, according to a news release from the Howard County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said it went all down on Tuesday at about 9:34 p.m. when the Howard County 911 Dispatch Center received a report of a male subject with a stab wound to the neck in the alley behind the 200 block of South Hunt Street in Greentown, about an hour north of Indianapolis.
The caller told a dispatcher the suspect was a white male wearing a red and black hoodie and was last seen running west.
At the location, a deputy found Cummins with a cut to his neck and a bystander aiding him, authorities said.
Seth Graber told local station Fox59 he heard screams and went outside to find the victim lying in his yard.
“He told me, ‘I got stabbed! I got stabbed! I got stabbed! He has a red hoodie on, he ran that way,’” Graber told the station.
While being treated by paramedics, Cummins told authorities he was riding his bicycle when a stranger attacked him. He told authorities they fought, and during the fight, the victim said he believed he struck the man at least once in self-defense, deputies said.
Cummins told deputies he was stabbed in the neck and fell to the ground, and his attacker told him he was going to kill him. Cummins said that while he was laying on the ground, his attacker asked him his name as he stood over him.
When Cummins replied, “Ryan,” the man said, “wrong guy,” and disappeared, officials said.
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Cummins was flown by helicopter to a hospital, where his status was unknown when the Thursday morning news release was posted, officials said.
A search was launched for the assailant, and police notified area hospitals of the suspect’s description. At 10:25 p.m. that night, a Community Howard Regional Health police officer informed authorities that a person matching the suspect’s description had arrived at the hospital’s emergency department.
Crow, who was not a resident of Howard County and had only been in the area for a few weeks staying with his grandparents, spoke with police.
“His account of the incident changed multiple times,” officials said. “However, at the conclusion of the interview, Crow stated that Cummins called him a name and that it ‘triggered him.’”
“Crow then admitted to cutting Cummins in the neck with a box knife and telling him he was going to kill him because he is ‘just done with people,’” police said.
Sheriff’s Capt. Jared Buckley told Fox59 said it was unprovoked.
“You just never know when evil may strike,” he said.
With his left black eye nearly swollen shut, Crow was booked without bond into the Howard County Jail on a preliminary charge of attempted murder in the ongoing investigation, officials said.
No court date has been set.
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