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PEORIA, Ariz. (FOX 10) - New information has emerged regarding the stabbing of a teenager at a Circle K near 67th Ave. and Peoria on Thursday. Peoria Police say it was all over the victim's choice of music.
Witnesses say 27-year-old Michael Adams walked up to a 17-year-old boy in Circle K, slit his throat then left the store. The victim then stumbled outside, collapsed, and died.
Adams told officers the victim was listening to rap music and that type of music makes him feel unsafe because he's been attacked in the past by people who listen to rap music. He said he felt he needed to prevent an attack rather than wait for the victim to kill him. Adams admits the victim didn't say anything to provoke him.
Adams' lawyer says he suffers from a mental illness and had been released from jail without medication.
"They released him to the streets with no medication, no meds, with no way to care for himself," said the lawyer, Jacie Cotterell, during a court appearance. "This is a failing of the Department of Corrections. This is easily foreseeable and that is an issue."
Cotterell said Adams does not belong in jail.
"It's too easy as a society to shake our head and say well, they committed a crime, it's too bad, we have jails for that when really, what they need is treatment. They need a bed instead of a cell," said Cotterell.
Adams, is now back in jail, with a cash bond of $1 million set. According to records, Adams has been arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon twice before, and in both incidents, the victims were stranger to Adams. Court records also show he threatened to throw a cobblestone brick at the face of a Tempe employee who asked him to get up from the curb. While in jail, he assaulted a correctional officer and served a 13-month prison sentence before he was released.
Meanwhile, a candle and balloons were laid outside of the scene of the crime.