An Alaska Airlines flyer allegedly planned to attack and kill a fellow passenger using a makeshift weapon during a bloody mid-flight altercation while traveling from Seattle to Las Vegas last month.
Julio Alvarez Lopez was charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon following his arrest at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Jan. 24, according to 8NewsNow, citing federal court records.
Lopez, who was described as being “fidgety” throughout the flight as he continuously put on and removed his gloves, had gone to the bathroom for an extended period during the flight’s initial descent.
As returned to his seat, Lopez “began punching and hitting” the man seated across the aisle and tried to stab him in the eye, according to the outlet.
Julio Lopez admitted to crafting the makeshift weapon by taking pens and wrapping them together with rubber bands. 8NewsNow-Las Vegas/YouTube
“During the altercation, [the victim’s] wife was screaming at the defendant to stop hitting her husband,” an FBI agent wrote in court documents, viewed by the outlet. “[A witness] unbuckled her seatbelt and yelled at the defendant to stop.”
Lopez had reportedly struck the screaming wife, who was shielding the couple’s 7-year-old son from the crazed suspect’s rampage.
Witnesses later told investigators there “was blood everywhere,” as a “pen and tape bundle” had dropped to the floor.
The male victim survived but was badly hurt, according to the outlet.
The altercation occurred on board the Alaska Airlines flight as it was traveling from Seattle to Las Vegas on Jan. 24, 2024. AP
After the altercation, Lopez had made his way to the front of the plane screaming “I’ll only talk to the FBI.”
A law enforcement officer on board ordered Lopez to sit down, as the flight crew “worked to provide flex cuffs and the defendant was restrained for the remainder of the flight.”
Las Vegas Metropolitan arrested Lopez after the plane landed at approximately 8:37 a.m., and held him at a substation in Terminal 3, where they questioned him.
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Lopez admitted to officers he had planned the attack because he “felt the mafia had been chasing him.”
Lopez claimed he had never seen the victim “but planned on killing [him].”
He also said he armed himself with pens wrapped in rubber bands that he created before the flight, according to FOX 5 Vegas.
US Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe ordered Lopez detained pending trial, the next day.
Lopez was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police after the flight landed on Jan. 24. Getty Images
He was indicted by a federal grand jury on the assault charge on Wednesday.
Lopez is due back in court on March 1.
Source link: https://nypost.com/2024/02/22/us-news/las-vegas-bound-flyer-julio-lopez-allegedly-stabbed-fellow-alaska-airlines-with-makeshift-weapon/