Louisiana Tech stabbing: Witnesses recount bloody encounter

The first thing Lesa Henderson heard was screaming.

Henderson was in the parking lot of the Lambright Sports & Wellness Center shortly after 9 a.m. Monday, getting ready to leave after an exercise class there.

“I was standing at my truck, and I see four girls running, screaming bloody murder, and a young man came out,” Henderson said. “They got down to the end of the walkway, and three girls got away. This girl — I thought he was hitting her. I just thought it was somebody fighting. I never dreamed there was a knife.”

Henderson witnessed the stabbing of Louisiana Tech University graduate student Dominique McKane, one of four victims in what police are calling a random act of violence on campus.

Jacoby Johnson, a Tech student from Rayville, was arrested Monday morning in connection with the attack and has been charged with four counts of attempted second-degree murder.

McKane, a graduate student in Tech’s Department of Kinesiology, was in stable condition in a Shreveport hospital as of 4:30 p.m. Monday, Ruston city officials said.

Kinesiology instructor Jessica Szymanski was at the center during the incident. She said she supervises the water aerobics class that McKane attended as a practicum student teacher just before the attack.

“She had just finished the 8 a.m. class and was leaving like she normally does every day,” Szymanski said.

Debby Hollimon, of Ruston, also heard the screams from the parking lot and took action.

“I just ran up screaming, ‘get off her, get away from her!’” Hollimon said. “He stands up and looks at me with no expression, just as flat as can be.”

She said Johnson had a short knife in his hand, partially concealed in his jacket. He quickly grazed Hollimon across the right side of her face with the knife and then walked away down the sidewalk leading south from the Lambright, she said.

A few minutes later, university police apprehended Johnson without incident outside a nearby student apartment complex near the J.C. Love baseball field.

Hollimon and Szymanski said after McKane was stabbed, she made her way back inside the Lambright entrance and called for help.

Hollimon found her behind the front desk as Lambright personnel began attempts to stop the bleeding. Hollimon joined in.

“She was bleeding everywhere, it was horrible,” she said. “We were putting pressure on stuff. She was very clammy, very cold, very pale. She had lost blood, and we were just trying to keep her alive.”

They continued their efforts for what Hollimon said felt like a long time before law enforcement and paramedics arrived. 

McKane was then transported to a field outside Joe Aillet Stadium nearby, where a Pafford EMS medical helicopter landed to airlift her to Shreveport.

The other victims are Cynthia Woodard, Annie Richardson and Hollimon, each of whom was attending senior exercise classes at the Lambright, Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker said.

Walker said Woodard and Richardson were in critical but stable condition in a Shreveport hospital Monday afternoon. Hollimon did not need treatment.

Woodard and Richardson were initially transported to Northern Louisiana Medical Center in Ruston by a private citizen. After being stabilized there, both were flown to Shreveport for further care.

None of the witnesses who spoke to the Leader knew Johnson or saw where he came from before the attack.

“I don’t know what provoked him,” Szymanski said.

University Police Chief Randal Hermes called the incident a random attack Monday morning. Ruston Police Chief Steve Rogers maintainted that description at a Monday evening press conference.

Though she was cut across several inches of her face, Hollimon said she didn’t feel it at the time and didn’t realize for a moment that Johnson had cut her.

“I just hope everyone else is OK,” she said.