Defendant ordered to 'get help' at sentencing for Samurai sword attack

FORT WAYNE, Ind.----It was a night of extreme fear for the couple as they watched their upstairs neighbor come at them with two samurai swords.

The female victim, a woman who uses a walker to get around, heard a loud noise and opened the door of her first floor apartment to see what it was. 

Trevaughn Adams

She saw Trevaughn Adams standing at the top of the stairs, pointing two samurai swords at her and growling, according to a probable cause affidavit written by Fort Wayne officer Daniel Peters. The incident occurred June 30 of last year around 3 a.m

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked Adams as she began to back away. He started to chase her, swinging the swords at her.

Meanwhile, her partner was holding the bedroom door open, frantically trying to get her to come back in.

When they were both behind the door, they tried to shut it as Adams continued his attack, slicing the swords through the door opening and stabbing through the door from the outside. He was still growling, they said, according to court documents.

If the female victim hadn’t called 9-1-1 during the attack, it’s hard to say what would have happened.

Adams, who is 24 and much taller and stronger than his victims, was charged with two counts of attempting to commit a battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon.

Friday, after Adams took a plea deal on the advice of his attorney Jamie Egolf, he was sentenced to one year at Allen County Community Corrections Residential Services Center and one year suspended out of a 2-year 183-day sentence. The remainder of the sentence will be served on probation.

Adams is also obligated to pay about $2,000 in restitution and almost $1,000 in court costs.

Allen Superior Court Judge David Zent reasoned that if Adams were to spend his time in prison, he wouldn’t be able to work to pay off his debts.

But it was a one-time break, he said.

Zent warned Adams that if he failed his obligations and didn’t seek the help he needs, meaning mental health treatment, then he would have no choice but to sentence him to prison. 

The older couple who were Adams’ victims said they would have liked to see him get a stiffer sentence and had difficulty following the court procedure.The attorneys talked too quickly for them to understand, they said, but they were able to hear the judge.

In the courtroom, attorneys for both the defendant and the state speak quickly and face the judge, not the gallery.

“Acoustics,” the man said.  They declined the opportunity to speak in front of the judge, electing to put the trauma behind them.

But outside, they said Adams was a vegetarian, not that it meant anything in particular, and that he had a fascination with King Tut, the ancient Egyptian ruler. When she was told by Victims Assistance that she would be getting $2,000 in restitution, she looked pleased and said it would be “a good start.”

The couple left the building slowly and made their way into the outside sunlight, stopping so she could get her bearings.

Given the pace they kept as they crossed Main Street between the Allen County Courthouse and Rousseau Centre, it was hard to imagine how they evaded two Samurai swords slashing toward them.