Man pleads guilty to stabbing 17-year-old Black girl multiple times in hate crime

A 36-year-old New York man has admitted stabbing a Black teen multiple times while hurling racial slurs at her in a hate crime in 2020. Robert McCallion pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted murder as a hate crime among other felony charges in connection with the March 2020 incident.

According to NBC New York, authorities said the accused man, McCallion, attacked the 17-year-old Black teenager at an apartment complex he was staying. The victim also had relatives in the same building and she had gone there to visit them when McCallion stabbed her. The Black teen and McCallion did not know each other at the time of the incident.

Following the attack, the Black teen was found bloodied in the apartment complex with her family. She sustained stab wounds on her face and back, and she was transported to the hospital for surgery.

McCallion was also eventually arrested at the building’s parking lot. He had blood on his hands and shirt at the time he was located. Authorities also recovered the knife the suspect used to plunge the victim.

“This was a brutal, despicable and cowardly attack by Robert McCallion on an innocent young woman because of the color of her skin,” Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah said on Tuesday. “Hate crimes such as this not only traumatize the victim, but the community as well, and will be prosecuted aggressively by this office.”

A search of McCallion’s home where he stayed with his father also uncovered a number of weapons, including two loaded assault weapons that were found in the suspect’s bedroom, NBC New York reported.

McCallion is also accused of assaulting a health worker at the jail he was being held following the stabbing incident. That was two days after he was arrested.

McCallion’s sentencing date has been set for November 16, and he is expected to receive a 15-year prison sentence, lohud.com reported.