An inmate who stabbed former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin 22 times in federal prison last week was charged with attempted murder Friday. The prisoner told officers that he intended to kill Chauvin if they hadn’t intervened, according to the Justice Department.
John Turscak, 52, has been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury in the Nov. 24 attack at Federal Correctional Institution Tucson in Arizona.
Chauvin, 47, was convicted of murder in the 2020 death of George Floyd.
Turscak and Chauvin were in the prison’s law library around 12:30 p.m., according to a criminal complaint, when Turscak allegedly stabbed Chauvin nearly two dozen times with an “improvised weapon.” Officers used pepper spray to subdue Turscak.
The complaint alleges that Turscak told FBI agents he had contemplated attacking Chauvin for about a month because of Chauvin being a “high-profile inmate.” The assault occurred on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, a day Turscak linked to the Black Lives Matter movement and the “Black Hand” symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia, the complaint stated.
Chauvin was seriously wounded and taken to a local hospital after the attack. No other inmates or prison staffers were injured, but the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said after the incident.
“I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said in an emailed statement after the attack. “He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”
Attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. Assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each carry maximum penalties of 10 years of incarceration.
Turscak was eligible for release in June 2026, according to the Bureau of Prisons. He has been serving a 30-year prison sentence for crimes committed while he was acting as an FBI informant in the Mexican Mafia, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Chauvin was transferred to the Tucson federal prison in August 2022, the Associated Press reported. The facility is a medium-security prison. He is serving more than a 20-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights as well a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.
Chauvin filed an appeal last month, claiming new evidence showed he was not responsible for Floyd’s death. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal for a new trial on Nov. 20, days before the stabbing.