The victim was attacked from behind near Biscayne Boulevard and left with permanent injuries, police say.

MIAMI, Fla. — A 49-year-old man is jailed without bond after police said he attacked a woman walking her dog in downtown Miami, stabbed her in the face with a homemade weapon and then held officers in a tense standoff.

Raydean Johnson faces charges tied to the May 19 attack near Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 8th Street, a busy area across from the Kaseya Center and near high-rise homes, hotels and stores. Police said the woman, later identified in interviews as Caitlin Dydzuhn, suffered severe facial injuries, a broken left orbital socket and partial blindness. The case has since expanded beyond the initial police response, with Dydzuhn speaking publicly about the attack and her attorney raising questions about security outside her condominium building.

The attack began in late morning as Dydzuhn was walking her dog near her MarinaBlue apartment building, according to police accounts and interviews she later gave to local stations. Investigators said she noticed a man sitting on the sidewalk, then felt him shove her from behind as she passed. Police said Johnson pushed her to the ground, punched her in the back of the head and slammed her head into the pavement several times. Dydzuhn said she did not know the man and had no warning that she was about to be attacked. “He attacked me from behind. I had no idea it was going to happen,” she said. “There was no way to defend myself from that; he just flattened me.”

Police said the weapon was a makeshift shank built from a tire pressure gauge with a concrete nail fixed to the end and tied to Johnson’s right hand with a shoelace. The first reports described the object as a pen, but later arrest details described the modified gauge and nail. As Dydzuhn screamed, a bystander moved toward the assault and forced the attacker off her, police said. Witness Asher Shafer said he first thought the woman may have been hurt by an animal because of the amount of blood on her face. “Her face is just coated with blood, it looked like studio makeup,” Shafer said. Police said the witness and victim were able to move away and call for emergency help.

Miami Fire Rescue took Dydzuhn to a hospital from the scene. Early reports described her condition as stable, but later accounts showed the depth of her injuries. She required stitches to her nose and emergency surgery for damage to her left eye. Police records described permanent disfigurement. Dydzuhn later said she was left visually impaired and feared she was going to die while the attacker pinned her down. “I was prepared to die in that moment,” she said. “I was calculating how many more punches can I take?” Her attorney, Judd Rosen, said the attack was close to becoming fatal and credited the person who intervened with stopping it before it went further.

Officers responding to the area found Johnson near a CVS across from the arena, police said. Parts of Biscayne Boulevard between Northeast 8th and Northeast 9th streets were shut down to vehicles and pedestrians while officers tried to get him to surrender. Aerial video showed several officers surrounding a man outside a nearby building. Police said Johnson refused to drop the weapon and was ranting while officers tried to de-escalate the scene. Miami police spokeswoman Kiara Delva said officers sometimes remain in place for hours to bring a confrontation to a safe end. “It doesn’t matter if it takes three, four, or even 10 hours,” Delva said. “And that’s what happened today.”

During the standoff, police said Johnson vandalized a private building wall in the 800 block of Biscayne Boulevard by engraving “REPENT ALL” and other words into the property. Investigators said he threatened officers as they tried to talk him down. According to an arrest report, Johnson shouted that if officers came near him, he would stab them as he had stabbed the woman in the eye. Police said the standoff lasted about three hours before Johnson advanced with the weapon and officers used Tasers. A detective pinned him with a tactical shield while other officers moved in, disarmed him and placed him in handcuffs.

Johnson initially refused to provide identification, police said, and investigators later identified him through fingerprints. After he was medically cleared by fire rescue, he was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Police said he then made an unsolicited statement to an officer guarding him, saying he attacked the victim and tried to stab her because “the devil told him to do it.” Johnson was booked at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Authorities said his charges include attempted murder, aggravated battery with great bodily harm, criminal mischief while armed, resisting an officer with violence and resisting an officer without violence.

The case has also drawn attention to Johnson’s earlier contacts with the justice system. Local reports said he had several warrant cases tied to a probation violation, six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief and aggravated battery on a police officer. Officials also described him as homeless at the time of the attack and said he had a record of being combative with officers. Those details have become central to questions raised by Dydzuhn’s attorney about whether the area outside her building was being watched closely enough and whether security staff had notice of a known problem near the entrance.

Dydzuhn, 36, said the attack changed the way she sees the front of her own home. She said she had just stepped outside to walk her dog when she was pinned down, punched and stabbed steps from the tower where she lives. Rosen said he is looking at a negligent security lawsuit against MarinaBlue and has questioned whether cameras were blocked and whether the building had enough perimeter security. “The building has a security responsibility to protect their residents,” Rosen said. NBC6 and WSVN reported that they sought comment from MarinaBlue or its property management. A response had not been reported in those accounts.

Johnson remained jailed as Dydzuhn continued recovering from surgery and partial blindness. The next milestones in the case are expected in Miami-Dade court, where the criminal charges will move forward and where any civil security claim could be filed separately.

Author note: Last updated June 18, 2026.