Police in Topeka say a single suspect may be responsible for five separate attacks that unfolded across roughly 90 minutes on Wednesday, Oct. 28, leaving 17 victims ranging in age from 4 months to 70 years old. Two of those victims, a 16-year-old boy and a 39-year-old woman, were stabbed and suffered life-threatening injuries, while two others were hurt but expected to survive. Most of the 17 people identified were not physically injured.
According to the Kansas City Star, the incidents stretched across a two-mile swath outside downtown Topeka, and a 47-year-old man was taken into custody that night on suspicion of being involved in all of them. Police have identified him as Adam James Schwegman, of Topeka, according to WIBW, which reported he was booked into the Shawnee County Jail at 10:55 p.m. Wednesday and remained held there Thursday. As of Thursday afternoon, court records showed he had not yet been formally charged, the Star reported.
A Chaotic Stretch of Wednesday Afternoon
The first call came in around noon, when police were dispatched to a reported stabbing in the 1600 block of Southwest Fillmore Street. Officers there found two people with life-threatening injuries, who were transported by American Medical Response ambulance to a local hospital, per the same wibw.com report. Investigators tied that scene to alleged aggravated battery, rape and aggravated burglary.
About an hour later, officers were called to a second stabbing, this one in the 600 block of Southwest 3rd Street, where they found a victim with non-life-threatening injuries who was also taken to a hospital for treatment. Police linked that location to alleged aggravated burglary, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated battery, attempted rape and aggravated endangering a child. Shortly after 1 p.m., a reported aggravated battery call sent officers to Ward-Meade Park in the 100 block of Northwest Fillmore Street, where a victim with non-life-threatening injuries was found and treated at a hospital; that scene brought allegations of aggravated battery, aggravated sexual battery and mistreatment of a dependent adult or elder person.
Police also linked the suspect to two additional scenes in the 1500 and 1400 blocks of Southwest Fillmore Street, where investigators cited attempted aggravated burglary, aggravated burglary, theft totaling more than $1,500 from a building, and aggravated endangering a child, according to wibw.com's rundown of the five locations.
Investigators Still Piecing Together a Motive
Topeka Police Department spokesperson Kimberly Qualls said investigators were still working the case as of Thursday, telling the Star that there was no updated condition for the injured victims at that time. As reported by Yahoo News, law enforcement said it does not believe the suspect knew any of the 17 victims at this time, leaving the connection — if any — between the attacks and the people caught up in them unclear.
Topeka police have asked anyone with surveillance footage that could assist the investigation to come forward, and they've set up a tip line at 785-368-9400 or by email at [email protected].
How This Spree Fits Into Topeka's Crime Picture
The sprawling scope of Wednesday's attacks stands out against a backdrop that, on paper, looked relatively calm for the city. Topeka's own 2025 annual report showed overall crime 9.40% below the department's five-year average, with violent crime down 4.4% and property crime down 10.5%, per wibw.com's coverage of that report. The department logged 79,856 calls for service and 8,516 arrests over the course of the year.
Statewide, the trend moved in the opposite direction. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation recorded 13,588 violent crimes in 2025, a 7.5% increase from the prior year, and found the state's overall violent crime rate running 7% above its 10-year average, according to KSNT. The KBI's data drawing on Topeka Police Department reporting counted 5,447 criminal offenses in the city for the year, a reminder that even a single afternoon like Wednesday's can ripple through those broader totals before the year is out.
