Suspect in serial stabbings nabbed trying to leave U.S.

ATLANTA - A suspect in a string of 18 stabbings that terrorized people across three states and left five dead was arrested in front of startled passengers at an airport gate as he tried to board a plane for Israel, officials said Thursday.

A judge in Flint, Mich., where the attacks began in late May, signed a warrant yesterday charging Elias Abuelazam, 33, with assault with intent to murder in connection with a July 27 stabbing.

Antwione Marshall, 26, of Flint, the victim of that attack, told The Associated Press that the FBI visited him at 3 a.m. to show him a picture of the man arrested in Atlanta, and he identified him as the assailant.

Marshall said he was going into his apartment building when the assailant approached and asked for help fixing his car. He was stabbed twice when he opened the hood. He has a long scar from his chest to his pelvic area.

Marshall said he wants to retaliate but "I'll let God handle it. Every time I look at my scar, I get angry." In Michigan, Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton said authorities still don't know the motive. Most victims were black, and police have said the attacks may have been racially motivated, though Leyton said there was no evidence of that.

Atlanta police said they went to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at the request of Michigan State Police and paged Abuelazam over the intercom as he waited to board a Delta Air Lines flight to Tel Aviv.

Speaking in Arabic to Israel Radio, the suspect's mother said she spoke to her son by phone before he was supposed to board the plane.

"I do not believe these charges are true," Iyam al-Azzam said. "Elias, my son, is a religious, God-fearing man who always assists anyone who needs help."

Passengers on that flight said as they arrived in Tel Aviv that he was tense and talking on his cell phone when he was arrested at the boarding gate shortly before takeoff. They said six police officers led him away without incident.

Leyton said Abuelazam's uncle bought him the plane ticket, which cost about $3,000, and is now cooperating with police.

The suspect has ties to Flint and lived for years in Leesburg, Va., the site of three similar attacks last week, Leesburg Police Officer Chris Jones said.

Abuelazam is an Israeli citizen who is living in the U.S. with a green card, Leyton said.

Jessica Nimitz, an Arlington, Texas, woman who identified herself as Abuelazam's ex-wife, said she was struggling to cope with the news too.

"I'm shocked," she said in a phone interview. "I'm trying to figure out what's going on."

The attacks began in late spring and police said they usually followed a pattern: The suspect approached black men late at night on lonely urban roads and asked for directions or help with a broken-down car. Then, without warning, he pulled out a knife and struck. Then he sped away, leaving them for dead.