Khari Covington was arraigned Wednesday on charges of assault, burglary, and strangulation.
What We Know:
- The 29-year-old man is being held accountable for seven attacks against various women, all dating between August 2020 to January 2021. Covington was arrested on January 5th, after he assaulted Tina Francisco at her job. Francisco was working a shift at a smoke shop when Covington came in and attacked her. Francisco was a crucial witness in helping identify Covington and linking him to previous attacks on women at a local subway station.
- Covington had been living at a transitional housing unit in close proximity to where the Morgan Avenue L subway station is. That subway station was the location of many of Covington’s attacks. Covington was arraigned this week before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. He currently faces 25 years to life in prison, and bail has been posted at $150,000. Covington is scheduled to appear in court on April 13th.
- Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzales indicted Covington with 52 counts of charges that include second-degree burglary, second-degree strangulation, and third-degree assault. Covington appears to have the majority of his crimes labeled as hate crimes as well because all of his victims fit into one demographic. In an announcement on Wednesday from Gonzales, he confirmed that Convington chose his victims because they were both women and light-skinned. One of the victims, Biance Fortis, claims Convington, “came out of nowhere” and attacked her. Fortis’ immediate thoughts after the attack were, “I really hope this doesn’t happen again to somebody else.”
- Gonzales also said in his Wednesday statement that he is “committed to prosecuting all hate crimes where victims, including as alleged in this case, are targeted because of their gender, skin color or race.” Covington’s attorney, Murphy Martin Mitchell, could not be reached for any public comments.
We hope the women involved in these incidents find justice knowing that their attacker has finally been turned in.
