UPDATED: Police arrest woman in unprovoked stabbing on Bloomington bus
Police say a 56-year-old woman stabbed a fellow Bloomington Transit bus passenger in the head Wednesday afternoon as the victim waited to disembark at the B-Line Trail downtown.
The suspect reportedly told police she targeted the teen because of her Asian nationality.
A folding pocket knife was used in the attack, after which the woman had "blood flowing from her head," a BPD summary said.
Investigators initially thought the injuries were from the suspect hitting the woman with her fists, but discovered at the hospital later the 18-year-old Carmel woman had been stabbed multiple times in the head, according to a news release from Bloomington Police Department Capt. Ryan Pedigo.
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She was alert and able to tell police what happened when they questioned her at the hospital; her condition wasn't available Thursday.
Police reviewed video camera footage from Bus No. 1777 and said there was no interaction between the two women before the sudden attack, which happened at 4:43 p.m. as the bus stopped on West Fourth Street at the B-Line pedestrian trail.
A witness who was on the bus at the time followed the suspect and called 911, providing updates on her whereabouts until officers arrived and detained the woman near the intersection of Kirkwood Avenue and South Washington Street.
The woman who was attacked "said that as she was standing and waiting for the bus doors to open, another passenger on the bus began to strike her repeatedly in the head, which resulted in immediate pain," the news release said. "The suspect also exited the bus and began to walk towards Kirkwood Avenue."
Billie R. Davis, of 2300 block of South Brandon Court, was booked into the Monroe County Jail on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery by means of a deadly weapon. She was jailed without bond on Thursday.
A probable cause affidavit in the case reveals Davis said she targeted the the teen because she was Chinese and said "race was a factor in why she stabbed her. Davis made a statement that it would be one less person to blow up our country."
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The affidavit says those words and the force of the attack indicate Davis knew what she was doing and intended to kill the woman she stabbed. The video shows Davis unfolding and grasping the knife, then stabbing the victim seven times on the top of her head.
Davis then folded the blade back into the knife, sat down in her seat, stepped off the bus when the door opened and walked away, the affidavit said. She told police she discarded the knife before officers located and arrested her.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Billie Davis accused of stabbing Bloomington Transit rider in head
