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Police: Women responsible for at least half of all Grand Rapids murders this year

Posted at 9:21 PM, Aug 29, 2014
and last updated 2014-08-29 23:51:06-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A man in Grand Rapids was stabbed to death by a woman Friday morning - and police say it's the second domestic-violence-related homicide in the city this year.
It happened around 1 a.m. at the Millbrook Apartments on the southeast side.
The FBI says less than 10 percent of murders are committed by women. Surprisingly enough, women have committed at least half of all murders in Grand Rapids so far this year.
There were 18 murders in Grand Rapids in 2013, all of which Police believe were committed by men.
The numbers are staggeringly lower this year - only four homicides, two suspected at the hands of women. The women stabbed their significant others to death in both cases. One murder was by two male suspects and one murder remains unsolved.
Kenyia Townsend is behind bars for stabbing boyfriend Rashead Bryant to death in May. His sister told FOX 17 Townsend stabbed him in his sleep because he was talking to his children on Facebook.
It`s an alarming trend that goes against the national, state and city statistics.
Witness told police they saw 33-year-old James Washington murdered - stabbed multiple times with a kitchen knife by his girlfriend, 36-year-old Janaya Johnson.
“The fatal stab was into the heart,” Captain Jeffrey Hertel of the Grand Rapids Police Department said.
Johnson ran from the scene - and police say they found her a short time later, arresting her for the brutal murder. It`s not Johnson’s first run in with the law, with prior convictions for assault and malicious destruction of property.
Johnson is set to be arraigned on Tuesday and is being held without bond.