Homeless man faces 22 charges in downtown attacks
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A homeless man faces 22 counts after a series of attacks on women in downtown Indianapolis.
Victor Johnson, 37, was charged by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office in the case. Online court records list his residence as Wheeler Mission, a homeless shelter in downtown Indianapolis.
Johnson faces charges including attempted murder, attempted rape, criminal confinement, aggravated battery, intimidation, battery by means of a deadly weapon,attempted kidnapping and attempted sexual battery. His charges include 21 felonies and one misdemeanor.
Johnson is accused of attacking at least six women, including a jogger who was stabbed in the neck on the city’s Cultural Trail.
June 17
The first woman to accuse Johnson came across his path on the evening of June 17. She told investigators she saw him urinating outside of an apartment complex in the 900 block of Fayette Street around 5 p.m.
She says she was walking out of the back of the complex with a friend when Johnson yelled “Hey, come here” at them.
She says Johnson wrapped his arm around her neck, then threw her to the ground. Her friend ran to her car to call police.
Officers arrived but were unable to locate Johnson.
Less than 90 minutes later, another woman said Johnson pulled a knife on her in a parking lot at the intersection of New York and Alabama streets.
She says she was dropping off recycling when Johnson approached her and asked for a hug.
She says he kept her from closing her car door and pulled a knife on her.
Several bystanders chased Johnson off.
June 18
In the early afternoon of June 18, three women said they were attacked near Veterans Memorial Plaza.
A mother and daughter said he asked them for hugs, asked them to have sex with them, showed them a knife, said he had already stabbed three people and called them “whores and filthy whores,” according to court documents.
They walked away from Johnson and attempted to warn another woman who was laying down on a blanket in the park.
The woman, who says she had just had heart surgery two days prior and had no strength as a result, said Johnson kicked and punched her and called her a “whore,” according to court documents.
Nine minutes after officers were dispatched to speak with those three victims, more officers were called to Walnut and Illinois streets.
Officers arrived to find a woman stabbed in the neck. Johnson was found and arrested three minutes after officers were dispatched.
“I just want to spend fifteen minutes with you,” Johnson allegedly told the victim.
She says he then threw her into a hedge, then into cobblestones, causing her to hit her head.
“I have a knife, I wanna have sex with you,” Johnson said, according to court documents.
The victim said Johnson then pulled out a knife and stabbed her three times, including in the neck and shoulder. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
“Stop him, he stabbed a lady in the neck!” yelled a man who was driving by and saw the victim bleeding on the ground, leading multiple people in the area, including construction workers, to begin chasing Johnson.
Several people ended up holding Johnson down on the ground, according to a witness who spoke to investigators.
Johnson speaks to investigators
A detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department spoke with Johnson after his arrest.
Johnson made a number of claims to the detective.
“He stated that he got beat up by some females earlier today, one of them having been a man who turned into a woman,” court documents cite Johnson as saying.
Johnson also said that people come out of time machines multiple times a day to bother him.
The detective also tried to ask him about the jogger who was stabbed and Johnson said “that the runners were naked. Then they were half-naked. A runner then disappeared and came back,” according to court documents.
The detective said Johnson was unable to identify who the President is.
Johnson made an initial appearance in court Thursday morning.
A jury trial is currently set for October 14.
