Man Charged In Random Downtown Detroit Fatal Stabbing: Prosecutor

DETROIT — A Detroit man has been charged in connection with a random fatal stabbing in downtown Detroit on Sunday afternoon.

Police said 34-year-old Jaquoya Wixx was on a break from work at a Chipotle when a man approached her with a knife and stabbed her multiple times in an alley on Woodward Avenue near E. Congress Street at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

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Wixx ran to a nearby business where police said she collapsed. Medics took her to a nearby hospital where she died, according to police.

Devon Watson, 42, of Detroit, has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Watson and Wix did not know each other and believes the stabbing was random.

Worthy did not detail how Watson planned the stabbing. She also did not speculate about Watson's state of mind at the time.

"Just because someone may have mental health issues, doesn't mean they're not acutely responsible for their actions," Worthy said.

Police said Watson ran away from the scene, but investigators used surveillance cameras to quickly arrest him at Woodward Avenue and State Street.

Officials said Wix was an employee of Chipotle and a mother to a 15-year-old daughter.

Family members set up a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses and to support Wix's daughter.

"My sister had been working hard to get her life together and was trying so hard to get on the right path," Alicya Wix wrote on the page. "She did not get the chance to keep moving forward or to be there for her daughter the way she was working toward."