Lt. Jeff Neville was helping his colleagues set up for a meeting inside Flint Bishop Airport on just before 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21, when a man came up and started stabbing him.
Neville, despite being stabbed repeatedly, began fighting off his attacker.
Airport Director of Public Safety Christopher W. Miller said he was there shortly after the attack and put handcuffs on suspected attacker Amor M. Ftouhi after the stabbing.
"From what we can tell, he engaged Lt. Neville and just started to stab him," Miller said. "Lt. Neville got him to stop stabbing him. Lt. Neville fought him right to the very end until I was able to handcuff this person. Lt. Neville never stopped fighting him."
An affidavit filed in the case by FBI Special Agent Thomas M. Sondgeroth says an officer who observed the attack on Neville told him Ftouhi used a large knife to stab the victim.
After stabbing the officer in the neck, Ftouhi continued to yell, "Allah," several times, Sondgeroth's statement says.
"He further exclaimed something similar to, 'you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.'"
Ftouhi, a 50-year-old Canadian citizen, allegedly yelled "Allahu Akbar" -- translated "Allah is the greatest" -- before making the attack, according to federal authorities.
Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Ftouhi on Wednesday, charging him with violence at an international airport, MLive.com reports.