A Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Germany was diverted to Boston after a man stabbed two teenage passengers with a metal fork, authorities said Monday.
Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli, 28, was charged with one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to do bodily harm in connection with the incident Saturday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.
Usiripalli was arrested after the plane landed at Boston’s Logan International Airport, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Usiripalli has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
A spokesman for Lufthansa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A 17-year-old passenger who was asleep in a middle seat awoke to Usiripalli standing over him with the fork following a meal service, federal prosecutors said. Usiripalli lunged at the passenger, striking his left clavicle, before he stabbed another 17-year-old in the back of the head, officials alleged.
The second passenger had a laceration to the back of his head, the prosecutor’s office said.
When the flight crew tried to subdue Usiripalli, he formed a gun with his fingers, put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger, prosecutors said. He then slapped a female passenger, according to the statement, and tried to slap a member of the flight crew.
Usiripalli, an Indian national, was previously admitted to the United States on a student visa and was enrolled in a master’s program in biblical studies, according to federal officials.
The U.S. attorney’s office said Usiripalli does not have lawful status in the United States.
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