A law enforcement official says it’s too early to determine whether or not an attack on a police officer at a Flint, Michigan airport was an act of terror.
FBI spokesperson Timothy Wiley said investigators are still working to determine the motivation behind the stabbing that sent the officer to hospital in critical condition.
Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw says one person is in custody and police believe nobody else was involved in the incident.
The MSP is on scene at Bishop Airport. The officer is in critical condition Please keep the officer in your prayers. The airport is closed pic.twitter.com/QKjaprVObw
Shaw identified the officer who was stabbed as Lt. Jeff Neville with the Bishop International Airport police. He says Neville’s condition also has been upgraded from critical to stable condition.
Bishop International Airport posted on Facebook that passengers were safe and were being told to check for flight delays or cancellations.
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.”
Travellers and traffic sit outside 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. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)
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.”
Flint is about 50 miles northwest of Detroit.
