Police in Springfield clapped the cuffs on a man wanted for a violent sexual assault, officials said. Jovan Murphy, 31, was pinched by Springfield's finest after cops claim he sliced a woman's throat with a razor-sharp box cutter during an early Sunday morning attack.

The harrowing altercation took place on Union Street just before 4 a.m. The victim, a woman whose identity remains protected, was accosted by a male assailant wielding a blade. Despite suffering a serious wound to her neck inflicted by her unknown attacker, she managed to fight him off. First responders tended to her injuries until she was rushed to Baystate with serious but non-life-threatening wounds, according to the official Springfield Police Department release.

Following the attack, the Springfield Police Real-Time Analysis Center (R-TAC) snapped a photo of the suspect and circulated it amongst officers. It wasn't long before cops found Murphy skulking on Montpelier Street; they snagged him in the area around Oswego Street. The blade in question—a box cutter—was found on him at the time of his arrest.

With Murphy in custody, Springfield Police SVU Detectives claimed to connect the dots between him and an earlier assault & battery with sexual assault that also took place in Springfield, this one dating back to May 3. Murphy faced a line-up and was identified, nabbing him additional charges in the process. The 31-year-old from Springfield is looking at an array of charges, including two counts each of assault & battery with a dangerous weapon and armed assault to murder, mayhem, aggravated rape, strangulation or suffocation, armed kidnapping with sexual assault, and a threat to commit a crime.

This isn't just another mark on the long rap sheet for Springfield, which has been grappling with crime in its borders. The recent string of violence underscores the ongoing safety concerns that residents have been voicing for months now, with the local authorities scrambling to put a stop to the spread of fear gripping the streets after dark.