Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) confirmed Monday his staffer was brutally stabbed at random around Saturday at 5:15 PM on the 1300 block of H Street Northeast in Washington, DC.

Just blocks away from the Capitol Building, Paul’s staffer was randomly attacked after leaving Sol Mexican Grill. The suspect, identified as 42-year-old, black district resident Glynn Neal, told law enforcement he launched the attack because “voices” in his head told him to do it, according to NBC4 Washington.

Neal was released from prison on Friday — the day before Paul’s staffer was attacked — according to the records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He previously was incarcerated for 12 years for “compelling two North Carolina women to engage in prostitution through the use of threats,” Fox 5 DC reported.

On Monday, the suspect appeared in court and remains behind bars without bond.

Paul’s staffer, who remains unidentified, was treated for “stab wounds” and was seen by the accompanying witness as “bleeding from the head,” the police report stated. The staffer was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening wounds. ABC News described the attack:

According to one of two witnesses cited in the report, the suspect had “popped out of the corner” and stabbed the Paul staffer multiple times as he and the witness were walking. The victim “was able to grab [the suspect’s] arms” and the witness with him tackled the suspect, “leading to a struggle between the parties,” the report states. Then, the victim and the witness ran as the suspect fled.

On Monday, Rand Paul issued a statement asking for prayer and privacy. “I ask you to join Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions,” the statement reads. “We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested. At this time we would ask for privacy, so everyone can focus on healing and recovery.”

The attack occurred on the same street in the district where Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) was recently accosted in her apartment building. Last year on H street, a Washington Football Team player was shot in an attempted carjacking.

The stabbing has drawn national attention. “The violence in Washington DC is absolutely out of control,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tweeted. “It’s time to get our inner cities and downtowns under control!”

Mike Davis, former Chief Counsel for Nominations to Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-IA), described the lawlessness on H Street Northeast and stated district politicians won’t let local police do their jobs.
“H Street NE has devolved back into a crime-ridden hellhole,” he tweeted. “H and 8th is an open-air drug market. Bunch of losers just ‘hanging out’ all day, smoking weed, dealing drugs, and boozing on the sidewalks. Crazy homeless men harass patrons on the sidewalks up and down H Street. There’s trash everywhere. @DCPoliceDept officers tell me it’s because DC politicians won’t let them do their jobs”:

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.