A man named Steve Sinclair has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and a hate crime for stabbing another man after shouting “Black Lives Mater!” The incident took place Tuesday night in Aurora, Colorado.
An arrest affidavit says Sinclair used a knife to stab 29-year-old Michael Conner who was transported to the hospital for his injuries and a collapsed lung. Conner, a white male, told police while at the hospital that Sinclair, a Black male, shouted “Black lives matter!” prior to stabbing him, according to the report.
It’s unclear from the report what may have led up to the incident, but police say witnesses saw Sinclair walk up to Conner and said, “I’m going to kill you and your dog.” One witness said Conner tried to run away and defended himself with a stick.
When police arrived, Sinclair allegedly confessed:
According to the arrest affidavit, the first officer on the scene found Sinclair with blood on his hands and torso. The officer says Sinclair approached him saying, “Black lives matter,” and would not obey the officer’s orders. Sinclair also allegedly confessed, telling the officer, “I stabbed him, I’m a psychopath,” and “I’m the stabber.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the victim. The page says Conner will be unable to work for the next six weeks while he recovers from his injury. There’s a photo of the injury on that page.
My initial take on this is that the attacker sounds pretty deranged. I don’t know if that’s the result of drugs or mental illness or both but very few people introduce themselves to police as “a psychopath.”
Still, the fact that he stabbed a white person after shouting “Black Lives Matter” seems like an indication that there’s some racial animus guiding his actions. Unless he’s ruled too ill to be responsible, this should be treated as a hate crime.
Here’s a local news report on the stabbing.
