A man gashed in the neck with a hatchet at a Tucson bus stop has died two weeks after the attack, officials say.
About 10 a.m. April 5, Jake Couch, 32, and his wife, Kristen, were at a bus stop downtown on East Broadway near South Sixth Avenue when they were confronted by a man.
Police said the attacker yelled at the couple about using drugs, which Kristen Couch has denied.
The man then pulled a hatchet from inside his jacket and struck Couch in the neck, records show.
After the attack, the man calmly walked away and boarded a streetcar, police said Friday in a news release.
Jake and Kristen Couch pose for a photo on Christmas 2023. Jake Couch died Thursday night, days after he was attacked in Tucson by a man with a hatchet.
Bystanders and officers performed life-saving efforts before Couch was rushed to Banner University Medical Center, where he died Thursday night.
Two weeks after being hacked at a downtown bus stop, Tucson visitor Jacob Couch has passed away, according to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.
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Couch’s family posted on social media that Couch died shortly after a community vigil was held outside the hospital.
Daniel Michael, 25, was arrested days after the attack, and he was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of aggravated assault.
On Friday, police said Michael’s charges had been elevated to first degree murder. He is being held on $1 million bond.
In an earlier interview, Kristen Couch said she and her husband stopped in Tucson as they made their way by bus from California to their home state of Alabama.
At this time last year, the couple had set up a brand-new bassinet and stocked up on diapers anticipating a baby after nearly a decade together: a boy they named Brooks.
Brooks was stillborn.
After that, Jake quit his job in Alabama and the couple headed to Los Angeles to find some peace, .
Luke Couch told the Republic that he and his brother grew up in Arab, Alabama, a town about 70 miles north of Birmingham. “They had what Luke described as a ‘little boy’s dream’ — life on a farm with chickens, cattle, horses and four-wheelers. A nearby lake teemed with bluegill and largemouth bass for fishing.â€
