Update

During his court hearing on Wednesday Apple elected to not appear in court. His attorney requested that the Judge order a competency hearing. The judge agreed, setting the hearing for August 22.

Original Story

An inmate at Anchorage Jail was eventually restrained by officers after he allegedly stabbed his cellmate in the eyes multiple times using a colored pencil and kicked him in the head repeatedly before he was eventually restrained with a taser and pepper spray.

According to charging documents, the assault occurred on July 3 and was first reported when Lewis Jones, a correctional officer, was making routine security checks and heard a "banging noise."

Jones says he then observed Justin Apple, 39, kicking his cellmate, Michael Knipe, over and over again in the head while he was under a blanket on the bottom bunk, "completely soaked with blood."

Through the locked door, Jones commanded Apple to stop. When Apple continued to kick Knipe, Jones called for backup saying, "I need you guys down here, this is bad."

In the charging documents, authorities say in that particular cell block, inmates are "allowed to have colored pencils in the cell, and the mental health staff makes the determination on who is allowed to use what in there."

It was one of these colored pencils, a Crayola in navy blue, that Apple would then turn into a destructive instrument.

Supervisor Sergeant Zimmerman was called and also commanded Apple to stop kicking Knipe. The report states Apple then "looked at [him], turned his head and walked toward his bunk, grabbed a pencil, moved over Knipe and stood over top of Knipe. Apple [...] slowly went towards Knipe's right eye and started to insert the pencil [...] until it couldn't go any further. Then he pulled it up and started jabbing in to the left eye."

The trooper report likened Apple's assault on Knipe's eyes as "jabbing it and stirring it around, almost like he was scrambling egg without even caring." Zimmerman said he could hear Knipe gurgling.

Officers then opened the cell door and attempted to use a taser on Apple. One failed but the second worked, knocking Apple on the floor. However, when correctional officers attempted to apprehend him, he got up and started coming at them again. The door was again closed, and again Apple kicked Knipe's head against the wall with "a sickening thud."

Officers opened the door and used pepper spray on Apple and closed the door on his arm as he tried to stab them with the pencil. Apple was eventually taken down.

"Zimmerman said that Apple was going to kill them. Apple had murder on his mind. He was going to kill [...] Knipe lying on the bunk," troopers wrote in the report.

Knipe was transported to ANMC where he underwent surgery and is currently in the Critical Care Unit, according to authorities.

In an email, Clint Campion with the District Attorney's office said that troopers arrested Apple on a charge of attempted murder in the first degree. "As of yesterday, according to the lead investigator, Mr. Knipe was alive and recovering in an Anchorage hospital," Campion said.