Vaughan Foods beheading incident

Vaughan Foods beheading incident
Part of terrorism in the United States
LocationMoore, Oklahoma, U.S.
DateSeptember 25, 2014 (2014-09-25)
Attack type
Decapitation, stabbing
WeaponsKnife
Deaths1 (Colleen Hufford)
Injured2 (Traci Johnson and the attacker)
PerpetratorAlton Alexander Nolen, aka "Jah'Keem Yisrael"

On September 25, 2014, Alton Nolen attacked two employees at the Vaughan Foods food processing plant in Moore, Oklahoma, United States, with a knife. He beheaded Colleen Hufford, and also stabbed another employee, Traci Johnson, who was critically injured. Nolen, whom the plant had fired prior to the attack, was shot and wounded by Vaughan Foods chief operating officer Mark Vaughan. The attack came to national attention due to its gruesome nature, which followed a well-publicized recent series of beheadings carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Nolen pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity due to a history of schizophrenia. Following a trial in October 2017, he was convicted of first-degree murder and multiple counts of assault and battery. A jury recommended that Nolen be sentenced to death, and, on December 15, 2017, a judge sentenced Nolen to death by lethal injection.