The man who yelled Allahu Akbar’ as he stabbed a police officer at a Michigan airport on Wednesday has been identified as Amor Ftouhi, an approximately 50-year-old Canadian man who is originally from Tunisia.
Ftouhi repeatedly stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville from behind at Bishop airport near Flint leaving him in serious but stable condition. The attacker was tackled to the ground by fellow police officers.
This afternoon the FBI confirmed it is treating the episode as a terror attack and said Ftouhi also yelled about Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan while he carried out his attack.
The agency said he has ‘a hatred of the US’ and traveled to the US from Canada where he apparently worked as an insurance agent.
At an afternoon press conference, an FBI spokesman confirmed that they are investigating the stabbing as an act of terrorism.
Ftouhi is being charged with violence at an international airport, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Authorities also gave more details about Ftouhi’s movements before he tried to murder Lt. Jeff Neville by stabbing him in the neck.
Ftouhi stabbed Neville in the neck with a 12-inch knife while yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’.
The saying means ‘God is great’ in Arabic, and is often shouted by Islamic terrorists before attacks or suicide bombings.
The FBI spokesman also said that Ftouhi said something to the extent of ‘you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and you’re all going to die’. He added that it was clear the Ftouhi had a ‘hatred for the U.S.’
Ftouhi was taken into custody within a minute of the attack.
