IL Walmart Killing May Have Been Racially Motivated: Reports

ROCKFORD, IL — The fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old Walmart employee may have been racially motivated, according to media reports, which said the assailant sought mental health care before the attack.

Timothy Carter, 28, of Cabery, is charged with first-degree murder after he stabbed the teen — identified in multiple media reports as Rockford resident Jason Jenkins — in the back around 6 p.m. Sunday at the retailer in the 3800 block of Northridge Drive, police said.

"Bystanders jumped to his side, comforting him while trying to stop the bleeding," U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, a Democrat representing District 17, said in a prepared statement. "I am grieving with the Jenkins family and their neighbors, as well as team members at Walmart and classmates of Jason at Auburn High School."

Carter stabbed Jenkins with one of two knives he picked up while wandering the store’s aisles, according to the Rockford Register Star, which reported surveillance appeared to show Carter, who is white, “giving all the African American people dirty looks,” as written by a police officer.

Carter also swore at Jenkins, who is Black, and used a racial slur when speaking about the teen, the newspaper reported, adding hate crime charges may be brought in the coming weeks.

Carter told officers that before the attack he had gone to Rosecrance seeking mental health care, where he was denied treatment, threatened suicide and was taken by Rosecrance workers to UW Health SwedishAmerican Hospital, where he was released without treatment, WIFR reported.

In a statement to WIFR, Rosecrance said it was “shocked” by the killing and that in some cases people who seek treatment are determined to be an acute risk and are referred to a higher level of care. A UW Health spokesperson told the outlet that patients age 10 and older at the emergency department “are screened for risk of harm to self or others and triaged appropriately.”