Saida Mashrah 7 year old Detroit girl slashed in the throat by Gary Lansky playing in the park as questions are raised whether the attack was a hate crime as police say attack was mental health breakdown.
A 73-year-old Michigan man was arrested earlier this week for allegedly slitting a 7-year-old girl’s throat as she played in a Detroit playground alongside other children.
Saida Mashrah was at Ryan Park with her grandmother, Tuesday afternoon when Gary Lansky randomly approached her, WXYZ reported.
Explained the 7 year old who observed the un-known man approaching her, ‘I was playing on a spinning thing that was green … and I was playing … and then I saw like a man, and I said, like, hi to him. And he … was coming towards me, and he was … walking to me like that. And one hand was nothing. And he just put my head up. The other thing was a pocket knife. And then he just slide the knife on my throat.’ Adding, ‘I kicked his legs medium hard.’
What motivated attack on 7 year old Detroit girl?
Saida then screamed for help and ran. Neighbors hearing the girl’s distressed cries ran outside where they found the 7 year old girl bleeding from her throat.
‘I just immediately … grabbed some gauze pads, and put them on her … to help her and help her stop bleeding,’ local woman, Donna Mockbil told WXYZ. ‘She goes, ‘oh I’m going to die and nobody is going to be here with me,’ and I started getting tears in my eyes.’
Mockbil’s son pursued the suspect until cops were able to apprehend him.
Lansky was taken into custody without incident, Detroit police said. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office has since charged Gary Lanksy with Assault with Intent to Murder and Felonious Assault in the case.
Lansky faces additional charges for domestic violence against his wife, before this attack, FOX2Detroit reported.
Saida suffered a laceration underneath her neck that required three stiches, Detroit Police Cmdr. Vernal Newson said.
Despite Saida wearing a head scarf which is akin to her Muslim faith, police do not believe the stabbing was motivated by a hate crime– that is the selective targeting because of someone’s faith, ethnicity, race or gender.
Hate crime?
Instead Detroit police believe the suspect was experiencing a mental crisis at the time of the attack. Family members of the suspect told police he may have been suffering from mental health distress and had called his sister to tell her that he was considering hurting himself.
‘In my 40 years of policing … mental health has become one of the forefront issues in our community,’ said Newson.
Lansky has no previous criminal history aside from recent domestic violence charges after allegedly assaulting his wife and sister in April, police said.
Responding to the attack, the Michigan chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) have since come forward to demand that the case be now investigated as a possible hate crime, CBS News reported.
‘While the charges faced by Gary Lansky are serious, we urge the Detroit Police Department and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this matter to determine whether hate was a motivating factor in the attack,’ CAIR-MI executive director Dwauld Walid said in a statement.
Saida’s mother, Amirah Sharhan, 32, from Yemen, who is Arabic and Muslim also wants the case to be further investigated.
‘Why did he aim for her? Why come out of nowhere? Why?’ Sharhan told Detroit Free Press.
Saida was given stitches at the hospital and released. She’s now recovering at home.
Lansky’s bond is currently set to $2 million. The 73 year old is to appear in court on October 16.
