A 49-year-old Canadian from Montreal has been arrested after a law enforcement official was stabbed in the neck at an airport in Flint, Mich.
An FBI official said the suspect spent time in an airport washroom before he emerged with a 30-centimetre serrated knife and stabbed airport police Lt. Jeff Neville in the neck. Witnesses said the suspect yelled "Allahu akbar” during the attack, the Arabic phrase for "God is great."
After his arrest, the suspect told investigators in an interview something similar to, "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die," said David Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit division.
The FBI is looking into terrorism as a possible motive, but there is no indication that the attack was part of a wider plot.
“It’s suffice to say he has a hatred for the United States,” Gelios said.
Amor Ftouhi, who holds a Canadian passport, was arrested following the incident and charged with committing violence at an airport. An FBI spokesperson said Ftouhi entered the U.S. on June 16 by a land border in Lake Champlain, N.Y. and arrived at the airport Wednesday morning.
Montreal police conducted a raid on a home in the neighbourhood of St-Michel on Wednesday afternoon. CTV Montreal confirmed that the operation was connected with Ftouhi’s arrest.
Ftouhi's landlord told The Canadian Press that he was “really surprised” by the news. He said he never had any problems with Ftouhi, who he said lived in the building for six years with his wife and children.
“I would see him at least once a month, when he paid his rent,” said Luciano Piazza. “He was a quiet guy … For me he was a nice person. I never had a problem with him or his family."
One neighbour described Ftouhi as a “family man” who was friendly to others in the community.
Some women were seen being escorted out of the Montreal building by police.
The FBI is working to develop a more detailed timeline of Ftouhi’s time in the United States.
The injured officer has undergone surgery and his condition has been upgraded from critical to stable.
Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale issued a statement condemning the attack as “heinous and cowardly.”
"There is complete co-operation between the RCMP and other Canadian authorities and agencies with all of their counterparts in the United States and we will do everything we possibly can to assist in this matter," Goodale said in Ottawa.
U.S. President Donald Trump was briefed on the stabbing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that he is proud of the “swift response” by officials from the U.S. and Canada.
Sessions said the attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism and said it will be "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Ftouhi appeared in a U.S. federal court Wednesday and heard the charge against him. He will get a court-appointed attorney and will remain in custody until a bond hearing next Wednesday.
With files from CTV Montreal, The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
