TUCSON, Ariz. — The inmate who stabbed Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, has been charged with several crimes including attempted murder, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona.
John Turscak, 52, stabbed Chauvin approximately 22 times with an improvised knife on Nov. 24 in the law library at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson, Arizona, prosecutors said. He told correctional officers he would've killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly, according to prosecutors.
Turscak told FBI agents that he attacked Chauvin on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, as a symbolic connection to the Black Lives Matter movement and the “Black Hand” symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia gang, prosecutors said.
Chauvin's condition has not been released.
Turscak has been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.
According to an L.A. Times article from 2001, Turscak was a former member of the Mexican Mafia who committed numerous crimes while working as an undercover FBI informant. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in Nov. 2001.
Turscak now faces the possibility of 20 years in prison for each the attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder charges and 10 years each for the assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in bodily injury charges.
The FBI conducted the investigation into the stabbing.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.