Flint MI airport evacuated after police officer stabbed

[zenkai]

Source



Last Updated Jun 21, 2017 11:54 AM EDT

A police officer was in critical condition after being stabbed Wednesday morning at the international airport in Flint, Michigan, authorities said.

The Transportation Security Administration told CBS News that an airport police officer was stabbed in the back and neck in the public part of the main terminal. A suspect was in custody, the TSA said.

The Michigan State Police said the officer was in critical condition.

"Please keep the officer in your prayers," state police said on Twitter.

The police said the FBI was the lead agency investigating the incident. The TSA said authorities were sweeping the airport with canine teams.

Bishop International Airport posted on Facebook that the airport was evacuated. The post added that passengers were safe and were being told to check for flight delays or cancellations.

The state police said that the airport was closed.

Ken Brown tells The Flint Journal he was dropping off his daughter at the airport and saw the officer bleeding from his neck. He says he saw a man detained by police and a knife on the ground.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck," Brown said. "I said they need to get him a towel."

This is a developing story.

Wonder what was the motivation to stab a random police officer at an airport...


Updated

Turns out the guy is Canadian.
Source


The stabbing of a police officer at a Michigan airport Wednesday by a Canadian citizen who yelled "Allahu Akbar" and referenced people being killed in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism, officials said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios said at a news conference Amor Ftouhi, a 50-year-old Canadian citizen, entered Bishop International Airport in Flint around 9:45 a.m. and went to a restroom before dropping both of his bags, coming out with a knife and yelling "Allahu Akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," before stabbing Officer Jeff Neville in the neck.

Ftouhi said something similar to "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die" as he was being arrested, accroding to Gelios. He also used a 12-inch knife with an 8-inch serrated blade, he added.

The Canadian citizen was motivated to come to the airport and conduct this act of violence out of a "hated of the United States," according to Gelios. He legally entered the U.S. at Lake Champlain in New York on June 16, and then made his way to Flint, according to Gelios.


Police officers gather at a terminal at Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Dominic Adams/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP) Expand / Collapse

Police officers gather at a terminal at Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. (Dominic Adams/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Police in Canada were searching a Montreal apartment late Wednesday. Montreal police spokesman Benoit Boiselle told the Associated Press officers with their department were assisting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the search on behalf of an FBI request. A number of police stood guard outside the apartment building in the east end of Montreal located in St-Michel borough. Canadian TV footage showed police escorting at least one person from the building where Ftouhi is believed to have lived.

Boiselle said three people staying at the residence had been taken in for questioning.

Luciano Piazza, the building landlord, said Ftouhi was not a difficult tenant and that he is married with children.

"I never had any problems with him," Piazza said. "I'm really surprised. I would see him at least once a month, when he paid his rent."


Federal prosecutors have charged Ftouhi with committing violence at an airport. The entire attack took place outside of the TSA screening are at the airport.

Flint Airport Director of Public Safety Christopher Miller said Neville is in "satisfactory condition," and "doing fine." Miller said Neville "fought him till the end" until the suspect was able to be handcuffed.

The FBI added in the criminal complaint that Ftouhi asked an officer who subdued him why he didn't kill him.

Michigan State Police talk outside Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP) Expand / Collapse

Michigan State Police talk outside Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

The FBI said this is believed to be an isolated incident and that there was "nothing to suggest a wider plot."

A White House official confirmed to Fox News that President Trump has been briefed on the stabbing.

"I want to assure all our law enforcement across the nation, any attack on someone who serves and protects our citizens will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Attorney General Jeff Sessiosn said in a statement. "I am proud of the swift response from the FBI and our federal prosecutors and their partnership with local police and the Canadian authorities. Our prayers are with the officer and his family for a full recovery."

Law enforcement agencies in Canada are in touch with their U.S. counterparts and are and assisting in every way possible, Canadian Embassy spokesperson Christine Constantin told Fox News. Constantin said Canada condemns this "heinous and cowardly act," and that "our thoughts and sympathies are with the officer and his loved ones."

Ken Brown told The Flint Journal he was dropping off his daughter at the airport and saw the officer bleeding from his neck. He says he saw a man detained by police and a knife on the ground.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck," Brown said. "I said they need to get him a towel."

Cherie Carpenter, who was awaiting a flight to Texas to see her new grandchild, tells Flint TV station WJRT she saw the attacker being led away in handcuffs. She described the man in custody as appearing "blank, just totally blank."

Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a friend of Neville, called him "an honorable man" whom he worked with at the county Sheriff's Department, according to MLive.

Neville was a lieutenant with the airport's police department, said Young, who met with the victim's family and at the hospital today.

"As expected, they are shook up. They are concerned," he told MLive.

The FBI is the lead agency on the scene. State police troopers, along with ATF agents, are also at the airport investigating.

The airport was closed for several hours as a result of the stabbing. The airport posted Wednesday on Facebook that passengers were safe and were being told to check for flight delays or cancellations.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder asked state resident to "keep the attacked officer in your thoughts and prayers" on Twitter.

The stabbing is the second evacuation at Bishop International Airport this month. In the previous incident, the airport terminal was evacuated June 8 after officers noticed a suspicious bag. The bag turned out to contain nothing dangerous.

Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a friend of Neville's who retired from the Genesee County sheriff's office in 1997, said Neville left that department two years after him. He said Neville served in various capacities with the sheriff's office including in the jail, on road patrol and as a court officer. Neville retired from that department as a lieutenant.

Young said he headed to the airport when he learned about the stabbing Wednesday. He said once he got there, he "tried to assess and work with emergency management and emergency response teams from the sheriff's department, kind of trying to see what was going on."

"Things were chaotic, but very well organized and under control -- how the sheriff's department was handling things and how Bishop International was handling things," he said.

A few miles away, officials stationed police officers at Flint City Hall after the incident. Mayor Karen Weaver said in a release the situation was "under control" but that officials sought to take "extra precautions."

[ParanoiD84]

Guess we will find out soon enough, hope he recovers well.

[Elegiac]

Wonder what was the motivation to stab a random police officer at an airport...

Lead poisoning.

Oh, sorry. Were you intending for this thread to be another BLM bash fest?

[AeneasBK]

"You need to get him a towel".

Hell if I said it I'd expect them to quote it but damn what a dumb thing to say

[zenkai]

Lead poisoning.

Oh, sorry. Were you intending for this thread to be another BLM bash fest?

It would be an interesting psyche study to see how you arrived at the conclusion.

[Krigaren]

It would be an interesting psyche study to see how you arrived at the conclusion.

Step 1) Begin with leading question and/or "random musings"
Step 2) Watch people fill in the blank the way you intended
Step 3) Pretend as though you were just asking a question, and that you're innocent of leading a conclusion

But naw, you weren't meaning to allude to "the left" and it's supposedly hateful anti-police rhetoric being "the motivation to stab a random police officer at an airport..."

[zenkai]

Step 1) Begin with leading question and/or "random musings"
Step 2) Watch people fill in the blank the way you intended
Step 3) Pretend as though you were just asking a question, and that you're innocent of leading a conclusion

But naw, you weren't meaning to allude to "the left" and it's supposedly hateful anti-police rhetoric being "the motivation to stab a random police officer at an airport..."

Honestly out of all the motivations for the stabbing BLM didn't even cross my mind, I think you and him drink too much MSNBC koolaid.

[sionus]

Lead poisoning.

Oh, sorry. Were you intending for this thread to be another BLM bash fest?

Yes, it's well known that knives are typically made from lead..

[xuros]

Lead poisoning.

Oh, sorry. Were you intending for this thread to be another BLM bash fest?

How do you get that from his post?

[Krigaren]

Honestly out of all the motivations for the stabbing BLM didn't even cross my mind, I think you and him drink too much MSNBC koolaid.

I don't watch MSNBC, and I didn't say anything about BLM. But mentally connecting the idea of anti-police being associated with BLM certainly is an interesting psyche study, and I wonder how you arrived at that conclusion...

[Kuntantee]

Lead poisoning.

A fine summarization of the globe in the past years. This shit is not only limited to US. It's spreading like a plague.

[Heladys]

Wonder what was the motivation to stab a random police officer at an airport...

Maybe he helped United drag someone off a plane

[Deus Mortis]

Looks to be terror related, NBC is saying that "The attacker allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" before stabbing Lieutenant Jeff Neville"

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...irport-n775131

[Daelak]

Looks to be terror related, NBC is saying that "The attacker allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" before stabbing Lieutenant Jeff Neville"

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...irport-n775131

Quick @zenkai switch gears! Then when the attacker is known to be an American citizen, switch to another gear! And onwards we go to the 'woke' promised land!

[Elegiac]

Looks to be terror related, NBC is saying that "The attacker allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" before stabbing Lieutenant Jeff Neville"

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...irport-n775131

Oh cool, we get a Muslim bash fest instead of a BLM one.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Violence like this doesn't help the assailant's cause in the least. People need to put their rage in check and use their words more effectively.

Why, and by what merit would you compare. Do you have an example of this working like NOW?

[Independent voter]

It's Flint Michigan, could be anything.

[Daelak]

Oh cool, we get a Muslim bash fest instead of a BLM one.

They are going for the double whammy, an African American who recently converted to Islam!

[Nilinor]

Oh cool, we get a Muslim bash fest instead of a BLM one.

I wonder if your head would explode if it was a black muslim that was born in russia.

[Doctor Amadeus]

They are going for the double whammy, an African American who recently converted to Islam!

If he is gay to boot, what's that?