Man describes stabbing over 'snipes' outside Berkeley bank
"I hear a voice behind me say the words, 'Snipes, huh.' And then I felt like a hammer had hit the back of my neck," the victim testified.
A homeless man who was stabbed outside a downtown Berkeley bank two years ago took the stand recently to describe the unprovoked attack in dramatic detail.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Jason Chin held suspect Wayne Johnson to answer, ordering him to stand trial on attempted murder charges and other allegations.
Johnson's attorney, Morgan Janssen, argued that the witness failed to identify his client adequately and said the prosecution had failed to make its case.
"While I recognize that the nature of that assault is very scary and that the injuries this individual suffered are very serious, I don't believe that the evidence presented to the Court rises to attempted murder," Janssen said, according to a hearing transcript reviewed by The Scanner.
Judge Chin ultimately disagreed.
"Based on the victim's testimony … that he was stabbed repeatedly, in his words, over and over again — at one point, he estimated seven to eight times that he was stabbed in the face, back, neck, spine, back of head, I do find that there is sufficient evidence for the attempted murder charge," the judge said.
The attack happened outside the downtown Berkeley Chase Bank branch at Shattuck and Durant avenues on Sept. 14, 2023, at approximately 3 a.m.
The victim, who is now nearly 60, said he had woken up outside the North Berkeley Senior Center and decided to walk down to Chase, nearly a mile away, to charge his phone.
As he walked, he picked up discarded cigarette butts, trying to find enough tobacco to roll what he called a "snipe."
When he got to Chase, and sat down on a bench to smoke his snipe, a stranger approached him and asked for a cigarette, he said.
He explained that the one he was smoking was his only one and the man walked away, he said.
A few minutes later, the man came back. The victim said that's when he tried to explain himself better.
"I think I was the one that said, 'Look, I don't have any cigarettes. All I'm trying to do is get snipes from the sidewalk,'" he testified.
But when the victim got up and began to walk away, the interaction took a violent turn.
"I hear a voice behind me say the words, 'Snipes, huh.' And then I felt like a hammer had hit the back of my neck."
He said he cried out in pain as he felt repeated blows from behind from "a knife or a hammer or some kind of an object."
He turned around and tried to shield himself with his arms as the attack continued, and found himself pinned against a small tree, tangled in its limbs as his glasses flew off.
"I was still getting attacked, even after I had fallen to the ground," he said. "It happened very, very quickly."
Suddenly, for no clear reason, the attack ended. The older man said he remembered the "pitter patter of his feet" as his assailant ran off.
The victim managed to run into the Chase Bank vestibule and began shaking in shock.
"It was only after I got into the bank lobby that I had the realization that I was stabbed," he said.
Emilie Raguso
He eventually realized he couldn't call 911 because his phone was dead, and his charger had fallen out of his backpack during the attack.
"It took a lot of struggle to get up and out to the sidewalk and back inside," he said.
He remembered blood gushing from his wounds onto the lobby floor. He was getting thirsty and knew he needed help.
"I was thinking, 'Oh, I don't want to bleed out here,'" he said.
He finally managed to call 911 and explain where he was. The Berkeley Fire Department rushed him to Highland Hospital and police kicked off their investigation.
In the years since, the victim said many of his injuries had healed. But not all of them.
In addition to nerve damage to his cheek, the man said he still takes a daily prescription medication for pain in his arm and hand.
"I don't have the smile that I used to have," he said. "I used to be able to whistle."
Emilie Raguso
Jennifer Wilson, a retired Berkeley homicide sergeant who was the lead investigator on the case, described how she had used surveillance footage, the Flock camera system and open source traffic citation databases to identify Johnson starting with the partial license plate from his red Jeep Renegade.
Wayne Johnson. BPD
In closing arguments, Janssen argued that, while the victim had definitively identified his client in court, stating, "That's the person that attacked me," it hadn't been credible.
"I recognize that this individual made an in-court identification, but they were just describing Mr. Johnson as they were looking at him," Janssen said.
Janssen pointed out that, according to the police report, the victim had said his attacker had worn a black mask and black sweatshirt, while footage of the attack showed him in a T-shirt and white mask.
Wayne Johnson has one prior felony conviction in Alameda County, for attempted pimping in May 2017, court records show.
According to court papers, he was originally charged with human trafficking and other crimes after making arrangements, according to police, to sell sexual services from a 17-year-old Nevada girl.
It turned out the girl was an undercover officer from the Oakland Police Department and Johnson was arrested at the airport when he went there thinking he was going to pick her up, court papers show.
He ultimately was convicted of attempted pimping, the result of a plea deal, and sent briefly to San Quentin State Prison.
As of this week, Johnson remains in custody at Santa Rita Jail.
He is being held without bail and is scheduled to return to court Dec. 10 for a procedural hearing.
