Woman Severely Beaten with Table Leg at Saint Paul Train Platform
A Minneapolis man is charged with attempted murder after prosecutors say he repeatedly struck a woman with a wooden table leg at a Saint Paul light rail platform, leaving her severely injured.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County, 20-year-old Jerrod Rentist Johnson is accused of attacking a woman around 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the Fairview light rail station on University Avenue.
Police arrived to find the victim lying in a pool of blood and with serious injuries to her head and face. Her clothing was soaked in blood and her glasses were shattered nearby, the court documents said. Officers recovered a blood-covered table leg nearby, one end of it squared and heavy.
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Witnesses told officers the attacker had walked west along University Avenue after the assault. Responding units soon detained Johnson near Lynnhurst and Oakley avenues, where he was found with blood on both hands.
Surveillance footage showed the woman getting off a bus and walking toward the platform moments before the attack. Johnson reportedly followed her while holding the table leg, then ran past the stopped bus and swung the leg at her head. The complaint says Johnson hit her again as she screamed and tried to escape, then chased her up the platform ramp and struck her more than 20 times.
Investigators say Johnson continued the attack even after the woman lost consciousness, hitting her for 17 seconds while she lay motionless. A group of five or six bystanders eventually approached but did not intervene, allowing Johnson to walk away. Witnesses later identified him in a show-up lineup.
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At Regions Hospital, the victim told police she didn’t know Johnson. She described him as having “crazy eyes” and appearing to enjoy the assault. She said he seemed irritated by her screams, which she believed “were ruining the situation for him,” according to the court documents.
Doctors later told investigators the woman’s skull was fractured, her right arm broken in multiple places from her shoulder to her hand and one eye swollen completely shut. She required staples for three head wounds and was diagnosed with a concussion. Surgery to repair her arm was scheduled for Oct. 10.
Johnson declined to give a statement to police.
Court records show he’s also charged in Hennepin County with fifth-degree assault in a separate case from Sept. 14, where he allegedly followed a woman near Government Plaza and punched her when she turned around. That victim also told police she had never met him.
Johnson now faces two felony counts in the Saint Paul case: attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault causing great bodily harm. Both carry maximum sentences of 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday morning.
