Stabbing suspect never unruly, his landlord says
Amor Ftouhi was an apartment caretaker and also truck driver.
The man charged with stabbing a police officer at the Flint airport in a possible act of terrorism was a part-time caretaker at the Montreal apartment building where he lived and had once studied to sell insurance, people who knew him said Thursday.
Amor Ftouhi kept the building stairwells clean and always paid his rent on time, his landlord said. The 49-year-old originally from Tunisia lived in a two-bedroom apartment with his wife and children and “never made any trouble,” Luciano Piazza said.
Investigators are working to learn more about Ftouhi, whom they describe as a lone-wolf attacker who made his way from Canada to the seemingly random destination of Flint, a struggling Michigan city once known for its sprawling General Motors factories but now better known for lead-tainted water.
Once in the U.S., he unsuccessfully tried to buy a gun, but instead managed to buy a knife, David Gelios, head of the FBI in Detroit said Thursday. He did not elaborate.
The attack Wednesday at Bishop International Airport was being investigated as an act of terrorism, but authorities said they had no indication that the suspect was involved in a “wider plot,” Gelios said.
Ftouhi, a dual citizen of Canada and Tunisia, stabbed airport police Lt. Jeff Neville with a large knife after yelling “Allahu akbar,” the Arabic phrase for “God is great.”
According to the FBI, Ftouhi said something similar to “you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.”
Ftouhi was immediately taken into custody and was charged in a criminal complaint with committing violence at an airport. Acting U.S. Attorney Dan Lemisch says more charges are expected.
Gelios said authorities “have absolutely no indication that he had any association with anyone in the Flint area or, thus far, in Michigan.”
He also said that Ftouhi was “neither on the radar of Canadian authorities or FBI or United States authorities.”
Ftouhi indicated to court officials that he has lived in Canada for 10 years and has three children. A pretrial services officer told a judge that he had worked on and off as a truck driver and last worked about two weeks ago. He indicated “no mental or physical health problems and no drug or alcohol use,” the officer, Linsey Carson, said.
Meanwhile, Neville was “doing well” at a hospital, airport Director Craig Williams said Thursday.
Ftouhi’s Facebook page reveals little about him. He has three friends and appeared several years ago to enjoy playing a Facebook video game called Army Attack. His only postings in the past four years are a pair of Arabic-language YouTube videos — one discussing ways to memorize the Quran and another showing how to prevent someone from swallowing their tongue.
His page also lists that he worked for a Canadian insurance company called Industrial Alliance.
A company spokesman said he was studying to become a sales representative but left after five months before obtaining his certificate.