Former Towson Man Will Be Tried As Terrorist

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A former Towson man accused of killing a homeless person in New York City last week will be tried as a terrorist for the murder, according to the Manhattan District Attorney.

James Harris Jackson, 28, has been charged with first and second-degree murder as an act of terrorism; second-degree murder as a hate crime; and criminal weapons possession, the DA's office announced Monday in a statement.

"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 said in a statement.

Jackson grew up in Towson, graduated from the Friends School in 2007 and served in the Army from 2009 to 2012, including a 2010 to 2011 deployment in Afghanistan as an intelligence analyst, according to WJZ.

The white U.S. Army veteran allegedly traveled by bus from Baltimore to New York City because he figured "the media capital of the world" was his best bet at drawing proper attention to such a crime, police said.

Police said that Jackson stabbed Timothy Caughman, 66, with a 26-inch sword with an 18-inch blade near West 36th Street and Ninth Avenue on the night of Monday, March 20.

Caughman survived the initial stabbing, and was able to walk into the Midtown South Precinct station house on West 35th Street while suffering from wounds to his back and chest, police said. Paramedics then rushed him from the precinct to Bellevue hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Jackson confessed to police that since arriving in New York on Friday, March 17, he had stalked other black men before killing Caughman, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Related: Baltimore Suspect In NY Stabbing Wanted To Kill Black Men: NYPD

Jackson also allegedly told police that Caughman's murder was "practice," and that he was planning on going to Times Square to kill more black victims.

He said he turned himself in because he didn't want to cause his family more distress, according to WJZ, which reported his relatives said in a statement that they were "shocked, horrified and heartbroken by this tragedy," offering condolences to the victim and his loved ones.

Jackson's family lives in Towson, where The Baltimore Sun found on a recent visit a peace-sign wreath on the door, an unmarked NYPD car nearby and an American flag stuck in a planter outside the duplex.

Residents of Hampden, where Jackson most recently lived in a rowhouse, held a demonstration Saturday evening standing up against racism.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declined to condemn Jackson's actions during a daily press briefing Monday.

"I want to make it very clear," Spicer said. "I'm not going to reference any case before the DOJ right now. I will say that the president has recognized we need to bring the country together. He wants to unite this country."

April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks was the journalist who pushed Spicer to comment on the murder, calling it "racism at its ugliest." But the White House press secretary instead condemned hate crimes in general, and complained that the right wing often gets unfairly blamed for hate crimes.

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito released a statement shortly after Cuaghman was murdered, blaming the rhetoric of President Donald Trump for a nationwide rise in hate crimes.

"The arrest of James Harris Jackson — a white supremacist who reportedly traveled to New York City intent on ‘murdering black people’ — is deeply disturbing and indicative of a greater divide in our country which Donald Trump has only made worse," Mark-Viverito said.

"There is simply no place for hate or intolerance in our City," she said. "The Council will continue to work around the clock in close partnership with the NYPD, public safety officials and the Administration as we keep New York City safe, welcoming and secure for all those who live here."

— By Brendan Krisel and Elizabeth Janney

Photo by Seth Wenig/Associated Press.