Passenger attacks, tries to stab co-flyer on US flight: 'Planned on killing him'

A law enforcement official on flight ordered the man to sit down as the Alaska Airlines flight crew "worked to provide flex cuffs and the defendant was restrained for the remainder of the flight." (Representational Image).

A male passenger was arrested after he attacked and allegedly tried to stab a co-flyer using a makeshift weapon while travelling on a Seattle-Las Vegas Alaska Airlines flight, a New York Post report said.

The incident took place in January when Julio Alvarez Lopez "began punching and hitting" a male passenger who was seated across the aisle and even tried to stab him.

The man had gone to the washroom and spent an extended period while the flight had begun its initial descent. After returning to his seat, he attacked the male passenger and attempted to stab him in the eye.

"During the altercation, (the victim's) wife was screaming at the defendant to stop hitting her husband. (A witness) unbuckled her seatbelt and yelled at the defendant to stop," an FBI agent wrote in court documents.

The man also attacked the co-flyer's wife, who was shielding the couple's seven-year-old son from the altercation. Witnesses later informed investigating authorities that a "pen and tape bundle" had fallen to the floor and there was "blood everywhere."

A law enforcement official on flight ordered the man to sit down as the flight crew "worked to provide flex cuffs and the defendant was restrained for the remainder of the flight."

Following the altercation, the man went to the front of the aircraft and heard yelling "I'll only talk to the FBI." He was detained at Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport on January 24 and told police officials that he had planned the attack since he "felt the mafia had been chasing him."

Surprisingly, however, Lopez claimed to have never seen the male passenger whom he attacked and yet "planned on killing (him)."

Also read: Woman shares hair-raising video from inside Alaska Air flight that lost panel mid-air