Airport police were targeted in what is “being investigated as a terrorist incident” at Bishop International Airport in Flint, Michigan at around 9 am Wednesday.
One police officer was stabbed and critically injured in the attack, but was upgraded to stable condition after hospital officials confirmed he was out of surgery, according to multiple reports. By evening Wednesday EDT he was listed in “satisfactory” condition, according to USA Today.
The suspect, identified as Amor Ftouhi of Quebec, yelled “Allahu Akbar!” (the classic jihadist war cry, ‘God is Great!’ in Arabic) before stabbing Airport Police Lt. Jeff Neville in the back and neck. Neville, a father of two, has worked at the airport for the past 17 years and is a retired lieutenant in the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department.
According to the criminal complaint, written by FBI agent Thomas Sondgeroth, Ftouhi stabbed the officer with a 12-inch knife that had an eight-inch serrated blade.
“Ftouhi walked up to a fully uniformed police officer at a publicly accessible area of the airport, yelled ‘Allahu Akbar,’ pulled out a knife and stabbed the officer in the neck. After stabbing the police officer, Ftouhi continued to yell ‘Allah’ several times,” the complaint states. “He further exclaimed something similar to, ‘you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and we are all going to die.”
The victim and three other officers and first responders managed to subdue and handcuff the attacker, who asked the officer, “Why didn’t you kill me?” according to the complaint. Ftouhi faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the charges of carrying out an act of terror.
In a statement, the Canadian Embassy condemned the attack and said its law enforcement agencies were working together with their U.S. counterparts. “Canada condemns this heinous and cowardly act. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the officer and his loved ones.”
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, quoted in a news release from city hall, said in a statement, “My thoughts and prayers are with all of our law enforcement officers who work to service and protect us each and every day.”
Likewise, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder asked the public in a tweet to “please keep the attacked officer in your thoughts and prayers.”