Source: Courtesy of Fox 5
The Atlanta Police Department (APD) has charged Damaris Milton, 44, with four counts of Aggravated Assault. The charges are in connection to alleged stabbings on her way to and at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport Oct. 11, wherein three individuals were injured.
According to the APD, the incident started around 4:45 p.m. when officers approached Milton. The department’s statement noted that the 44-year-old was “armed with a knife” and that she was “outside of the Security Checkpoint, near the west crossover, walking to the south terminal.”
Things escalated during the interaction when Milton refused to drop her knife, and officers struggled to apprehend her. The woman allegedly stabbed Lieutenant David Cannon, who was trying to arrest her. Another officer got the knife out of the woman’s grip and tackled her.
Before she was apprehended, Milton allegedly stabbed a female Delta employee and the male taxi driver who took her to the airport.
The APD described the span between her arrival at the airport and her arrest as “a short time.”
Thankfully, the department also reported that all the victims were in stable condition.
Fox 5 reported that the taxi driver, Selemon Melkamu, was stabbed in his upper body while driving Milton down Interstate 285 South. The woman reportedly also grabbed the driver’s phone and tossed it out the window. Melkamu told police that he picked Milton up at Kensington MARTA station — which Google Directions notes is about a 35-minute drive from Hartsfield–Jackson. The travel hub noted that the frightening incident didn’t greatly affect airport operations. At around 5:30 on the day of the stabbings, Hartsfield–Jackson said there was “no threat to the public.”
Milton is at Clayton County Jail and was denied bond on Oct. 12.
When asked in the courtroom whether she needed a public defender, she reportedly said, “Y’all already said what y’all are going to do to me. Why am I answering any questions?”
Investigators are still working to unpack more details regarding the stabbings.
When a reporter asked about Milton’s possible connections to the shooters and noted the victims seemed random, Atlanta Police Sergeant J. Chafee agreed. He said, “At this point, we’re still investigating and trying to determine that. But it doesn’t appear that there was a connection between her and them, but that’s something we’ll be looking into.”
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