Inmate accused of stabbing George Floyd's killer 22 times is charged with attempted murder

The inmate accused of attacking Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted in George Floyd’s killing, has been charged with attempted murder.

On November 24, at approximately 12.30pm local time, Chauvin was taken with serious injuries to hospital after he was stabbed 22 times inside a federal prison in Arizona.

John Turscak, 52, has been charged with attempted murder after prosecutors said he told correctional officers he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly.

Turscak, who is serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, told investigators he thought about attacking Chauvin for a month because he is a high-profile inmate but denied wanting to kill him, prosecutors said.

In August 2022, Chauvin was sentenced to serve a 21-year federal sentence for violating George Floyd's civil rights and a 22-and-a-half-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

On 25 May, 2020, Floyd, who was Black, died after Chauvin, who is white, pressed a knee on his neck for nine and a half minutes outside a shop where Floyd was suspected of trying to pay with a counterfeit $20 bill.

Turscak told FBI agents interviewing him after the assault that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, prosecutors said.

In addition to attempted murder, Turscak is charged with assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

The attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Turscak is scheduled to complete his current sentence in 2026.

Chauvin is reported to be in a stable condition.

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