Previous victims of accused Southgate attacker recall violent encounters
Jordan Cushnie, 23, has racked up 17 convictions in 5 years, including four separate assaults
Joseph was shocked when he realized the man accused of killing a store owner at an Edmonton mall was the same man who attacked him with a hammer last summer.
Jordan Cushnie, 23,is accused of fatally assaulting flower shop co-owner Iain Armstrong, 61, who tried to stop him from allegedly stealing money from a cash box at a SouthgateCentrekiosk last month.
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In June 2017, Joseph said he intervened when he spotted a man nearWhyteAvenue committing a crime. He soon found himself in a fight for his life.
Joseph is one of three people assaulted by Cushnie in past altercations who agreed to speak to CBC. They asked that their real names not be used, so pseudonyms are used instead.
As an adult, Cushnie has racked up 17 convictions, including four separate assaults and threedrug possessions for a total ofnearly four years behind bars.
His probation conditions included an order to take psychiatric or psychological counselling and drug abuse treatment as directed by his parole supervisor.
Cushnienow faces five new charges, including the second-degree murder and robbery of Armstrong.
In Joseph's opinion, Cushnie's life circumstances reflect a broken system that needs to change.
It was just after 2 p.m. one day last June, Joseph said, when he pulled over at a park near the Strathcona Farmers' Market after he heard the scream of a woman who was being beaten.
After rushing past bystanders recording the assault on their cellphones, Joseph said the attacker warned him to mind his own business, then pulled a claw hammer from a bag.
"He just lunged right at me with the hammer," said Joseph, who was knocked on the side of the head then found himself on the ground wrestling with Cushnie, who bit his forearm while observers kept recording.
"I couldn't choke him out," Joseph said. "I couldn't do anything. No matter what I tried, he was insane."
I couldn't choke him out. I couldn't do anything. No matter what I tried, he was insane.- Jordan Cushnie'sprevious victim
When the woman he was trying to rescue turned on him, Joseph knew he was in trouble. She punched and kicked him while declaring her love for Cushnie, then let loose with a can of bear spray inches from his face.
"I was obviously blinded and it was the fear of not knowing what was happening," said Joseph, who recalled the bear spray made it more difficult to hold on to Cushnie.
"Nobody was helping," he said. "And then all of sudden the crowd would just scream. I didn't know what was happening. Like, was I expecting an axe or another hammer or a knife now?"
A second man, who CBC News is calling Don, told CBC he also tried to stop Cushniethat day. Don said he managed to pry the hammer away from Cushnie then called 911, as both men pinned Cushnie to the ground until police arrived.
Court records show the Crown laid 12 charges against Cushnie, who was described as being from "no fixed address." He was charged with assaulting both men who intervened, as well as a female bystander.
In a plea deal, Cushnie was sentenced to nine months in jail on three charges, including the assault with a weapon against Joseph. Given credit for time already spent in jail, he served only half of his sentence.
Looking back, Don said he is glad he was not alone that day.
"I just feel really lucky that I had some help, that there was another Good Samaritan there," he said. "It could have been much worse."
Stabbed twice by Cushnie
Another victim who spoke to CBC echoed similar sentiments. In April 2016, the man, who was 18 at the time, was walking home with his pregnant girlfriend when he came upon Cushnie rummaging in a garbage dumpster.
Cushnieasked him to shake hands, he said. When he refused,Cushnie, who he said seemed "jacked up on drugs," stabbed him twice, once in the chest and once below the belt.
Cushnie was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in jail for assault causing bodily harm. His victim questions if that went far enough.
"I wish somebody would actually do something so more people would stop getting hurt," he told CBC News. "Maybe drug treatments for one, longer sentences for two. Something to make him realize what he's done and how bad it actually is."
On Saturday, family members honoured Armstrong at a celebration of life.
His life started in a remote town in Liberia surrounded by jungle. Armstrong's family later moved to an isolated Ontario hamlet, where he would one day work in an iron pit mine next to his father to pay for university.
The bystander effect
Armstrong's son Sean told CBC that if his dad saw something bad happening, "he would never turn a blind eye."
"He would always do what he could to improve the situation and improve the lives of the people around him, even at risk to himself," Sean said in an interview with CBC'sEdmonton AM radio program.
"The bystander effect is becoming more and more common nowadays, especially with social media and YouTube. Everybody wanting to get as many hits as possible. Everybody standing off to the sidelines with their cellphones out. And I think that's a tragedy in society."
Edmonton police have repeatedly warned witnesses to capture crimes on video rather than intervene.
But Joseph questions if that's always the best advice. He said he wished he'd had more help that day in the park when he tried to subdue Cushnie.
"How would you feel if you were the one asking for help and no one is stepping forward?" he asked. "Even worse, they sit there with a phone. This isn't about Facebook likes anymore. This can happen to anybody."
With files from Trevor Wilson and Travis McEwan
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