Cushing Business Attack Suspect To Appear In Court

On Wednesday, a Payne County judge is expected to determine if a Cushing man, who was caught on video attacking people at a local business, is competent to stand trial.

Right now, Joel Otto Walker, 52, is in the Payne County jail being held on a $250,000 bond. Walker faces five criminal charges including maiming, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and threatening an act of violence.

On Monday morning, News 9 talked to Jakob Beasley by phone. He is the President of Beasley Technology, Inc., the business where the attack occurred. He tells News 9 he will be at Walker's court appearance on Wednesday morning.

The surveillance video from that October attack is terrifying to watch. It shows Walker forcing his way into the Beasley Technology business front door and then chasing and slashing at an employee with a knife. It then shows the president of the company (Jakob Beasley) tackling Walker to the ground, risking his own life to try to subdue the situation.

“He stabbed me once in the back whenever I actually tackled him,” said Beasley during an October 4, 2016 interview. “And then once I got down on the ground he cut me across the chest multiple times.”

Fortunately, Beasley survived the Oct. 3 attack, but he still has the scars to prove what happened that terrifying day. He says he still has no idea why Walker targeted their business that day and what caused him to unleash his fury on complete strangers.

“And he just kept coming. He would not stop,” said Beasley during the Oct. 4 interview. “He continued the entire time yelling that he was going to kill us all.”

News 9 checked court records and discovered Walker was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation during a 2015 domestic abuse case. He was even arrested after failing to appear in court for a hearing related to that case.

A closer look shows Walker was found competent to stand trial and was released on bond. He was supposed to return to court to stand trial Oct. 5, 2016, but then two days before he was scheduled to appear, the attack at Beasley Technology happened. Now Walker is being evaluated and treated at the Oklahoma Forensic Center.

Doctors there will determine if he will be competent to stand trial on both the domestic abuse case and the attack in Cushing.

Those results will be revealed Wednesday morning in a Payne County courtroom and News9 will be there.