An Arab Christian from Israel suspected in 18 attacks in three states, including five fatal stabbings, was ordered held without bond on Thursday in one of the cases after being extradited to Michigan.
Elias Abuelazam, 33, was arraigned by video in a Flint court on a charge of assault with intent to murder in connection with a July 27 stabbing of a 26-year-old Flint man. Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said he expects to file homicide and attempted homicide charges in other cases soon.
Prosecutors asked for a US$10 million bond, citing the severity of the attacks and concern that Abuelazam is a flight risk. He was arrested on Aug. 11 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as he was about to board a plane for Tel Aviv.
“This is one of 14 incidents of murder and assault with intent to murder. Five people are dead. The rest faced death and are seriously injured,” Leyton told the judge in asking for the high bail. “He is not a citizen of the United States. The court should do all it can to make sure he stands trial in Genesee County where he ran rampant, created havoc and attacked innocent citizens.”
Judge Nathaniel Perry III then ordered him held without bond.
Defense attorney Brian Morley said he did not contest Perry’s decision because it’s a discretionary decision by the court.
“My understanding is he was not fleeing the country, he was heading home,” Morley said. “I could see where it suggests flight. At this point, with the town nervous and inferences of flight, I can see where the judge is coming from.”
Morley said he met briefly with Abuelazam before the arraignment.
“His frame of mind was: ‘What’s next?’” Morley told reporters.
Earlier in the day, Abuelazam was escorted by two Michigan State Police sergeants and two troopers from an Atlanta jail.
Abuelazam arrived on a small Michigan-owned plane under tight security at a secluded runway far from the main terminal at Bishop International Airport in Flint at about 12:15pm. Wearing a bulletproof vest, leg irons and handcuffs, he walked about 30m across the tarmac and was whisked away in a police van to the Genesee County jail. He will be held there in solitary confinement, authorities said.
Police vehicles and officers were positioned at the fences around the airport to keep spectators away.
Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell said Abuelazam told him he was concerned about the presence of so many TV cameras.
“I told him he’d have to get used to it,” Pickell said. “That’s how it’s going to be for a while.”
The attacks started in late spring and a pattern emerged after a dozen more men were stabbed between late June and early this month.
Survivors described the attacker as a big man wearing a baseball-style cap and feigning the need for help with his car or directions.
Abuelazam is suspected in 14 attacks in and around Flint, three attacks in Virginia and one in Ohio.
The victims were all men aged between 15 and 67.
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