UPDATE TO ARTICLE POSTED BY 3
See 3, this is what you find out with a little bit of research. For someone who is suppose to be a lawyer I certainly don't see the investigative qualities a real lawyer would have.
Suspected US serial stabber nabbed en route to Israel
(AFP) – 6 hours ago
WASHINGTON — An Israeli suspected of killing five people and wounding 13 in a stabbing spree that left a trail of fear across three US states was arrested in Atlanta trying to board a flight to Tel Aviv, US officials said Thursday.
Elias Abuelazam, an Israeli national legally in the United States, was detained late Wednesday at the departure gate, Stephen Kremer, the area port director for US Customs and Border Protection in Atlanta, told AFP.
"He was sitting out in the gate area and we had him paged by a Delta (airline) rep at the boarding gate, and when he got up to identify himself, then we went over and verified who he was and detained him."
Kremer said Abuelazam was told by law enforcement officers he was being detained over the brutal attacks that have terrorized communities in Michigan, Ohio and Virginia over the last two-and-a-half months.
The suspected serial stabber's modus operandi was to approach a lone man on a city street late at night, ask for directions or help with his car, and then viciously attack the person, usually with a knife, according to reports.
The attacks began in late May in the working class town of Flint, Michigan, when a 31-year-old black man was stabbed.
Over the next two months, 13 more men, most of them black, were attacked by the serial stabber in and around Flint. Five of the men died.
Then, in early August, three attacks were reported in Leesburg, Virginia, and one in Toledo, Ohio.
The Leesburg police chief was quoted on the Flint ABC television affiliate station as saying a hammer was used in one of the attacks there. In the other two, the victims were stabbed, he said.
Police originally said Abuelazam was suspected of attacking 20 people, but one stabbing victim in Michigan has said he knew his attacker while the modus operandi of another attack did not fit the serial stabber's method.
Abuelazam was "very calm" when he was stopped at the departure gate by the uniformed officers, said Kremer.
The suspect was carrying an expired Israeli passport and a valid "green card" authorizing him to live in the United States, Kremer said.
A Michigan judge on Thursday signed a warrant charging Abuelazam with assault with intent to murder in connection with the July 27 stabbing of a 26-year-old man in Flint.
According to the Flint Journal, Abuelazam has had several brushes with the law in the past, including having his driving licence suspended, giving alcohol to a minor and simple assault.
On the day he was cited for giving alcohol to a minor -- July 29 -- a 59-year-old man was stabbed in Flint, the newspaper said.
Unconfirmed reports said Abuelazam was a Christian Arab Israeli who had come to the United States as a child and frequently returned to Israel.
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