Indiana University Student Attacked on Bus, Police Say She Was Targeted Because of Being Asian

An 18-year-old Chinese student at Indiana University was stabbed multiple times in the back of her head while exiting a bus in Bloomington on Wednesday (January 11). Police said she was attacked because of her race.

According to a news release issued by Bloomington Police Department, the attack occurred Wednesday afternoon, near campus and the arrested person is Billie Davis, 56, who was transported to the Monroe County Jail. She was charged with attempted murder, level 1 felony, and aggravated battery, Erudera.com reports.

“On January 11, 2023, at approximately 4:45 p.m., officers with the Bloomington Police Department responded to a report of an assault that had just occurred on a Bloomington Transit bus," the statement reads.

It further notes that the attack reportedly happened when the bus stopped at the intersection of W 4th Street and the B-Line Trail.

The police said the victim was immediately taken to the hospital to treat her injuries and underlined in their report that the victim’s head was bleeding.

After accessing camera footage from inside the bus, the police saw that the suspect and victim did not communicate before the incident.

As local media reports, the suspect told police officers that she used a pocketknife to injure the Chinese student and said, “it would be one less person to blow up our country.”

Court documents also confirm that the campus attack was racially motivated.

“The victim reported to investigators that she had been riding the Bloomington Transit bus and had stood up to exit the bus on 4th Street at the B-Line Trail. She 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 police said, adding that the woman got off the bus and walked towards Kirkwood Avenue.

Mayor of Bloomington, John Hamilton, said that the “senseless incident” reminds everyone to take care of each other and fight racism in every situation. Hamilton said authorities will continue to do all they can for the victim, Asians, and the larger community.

On Friday (January 13), Asian American students studying at Indiana University in Bloomington gathered in support of the victim to raise the issue of students’ safety on campus and share their concerns and thoughts about the attack.

Indiana University Bloomington is among the best colleges in Indiana. In the fall of 2021, the number of undergraduate students at Indiana University was 34,253, while there were 11,075 graduate students. A total of 10,853 students are multiracial, Black/African American, Asian American, American Indian/ Alaska Native, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latinx.

image source: Jason Ayers | Unsplash