Motive Behind Derek Chauvin Stabbing Revealed

Kalyn Womack
·2 min read
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Photo: Mississippi Department of Corrections
Photo: Mississippi Department of Corrections
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The inmate accused of stabbing ex-Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin revealed to FBI investigators the potential motive behind the incident. Chauvin is currently going federal time in the killing of George Floyd back in 2020.

Ex-Mexican Mafia member John Turscak was identified by Tuscon, Ariz. federal corrections officers as the person who attacked Chauvin the day after Thanksgiving leaving him with 22 stab wounds. Prosecutors say if the guards didn’t break up the altercation, Chauvin would’ve died. According to the criminal complaint, Turscak told FBI investigators Turscak had been thinking about the assault for a month prior to the incident.

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He told investigators he chose Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving when shops bring sale events — for his attack because it was “symbolic with the Black Lives Matter movement and the ‘Black Hand’ symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia criminal organization,” according to FBI agents who interviewed him on Nov. 26

This revelation is quite surprising considering the Mexican Mafia’s relationship with Black people, historically, isn’t the best. Sam Quinones and Peter Kiefer from LA Magazine wrote the gang was born in the 50s behind the prison bars and consistently went toe-to-toe with Black gangs.

“They also—and this is key—went to war with Black gangs throughout the prison system. When they weren’t battling one another, the Brown and Black inmates maintained an almost Jim Crow-like segregation, using separate water fountains, separate showers, and separate telephones, not so much as bumming a cigarette from one another,” they wrote.

That racial rivalry soon poured out into the streets and created decades of Black vs Brown violence across Southern California. All that to say, before your gears start turning about the “BLM” bit, it’s up in the air whether Turscak is “for the people,” you feel me?

Anyways, he’s facing charges of attempted murder, assault with the intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in bodily injury. He’s already serving a 30-year-sentence for crimes during his run as an FBI informant, court documents show.

As for Chauvin, authorities say he’s alive and stable.

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