A Muslim advocacy organization has called for a hate crime inquiry after a man allegedly slashed the neck of a 7-year-old Yemeni American girl in a Detroit park on Tuesday.
Gary Lansky, a white 73-year-old, was charged on Thursday with assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in the attack, which left the Muslim girl with non-life-threatening neck injuries, according to Detroit police and the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The kid, who talked to 7 News Detroit with her mother’s consent, said she was playing in the park when a man approached her with a pocketknife, lifting her head and sliding the knife to her throat.
“I kicked his legs medium-hard,” the girl explained.
According to the outlet, the toddler then fled and cried for aid, alerting those nearby.
Donna Mockbil, who rushed to help the toddler, told 7 News Detroit that she grabbed gauze pads and tried to stop the bleeding. According to the site, her son followed Lansky until the authorities captured him.
“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 recalled the girl saying.
According to Fox 2 Detroit, Detroit police officer Vernal Newson stated that the 7-year-old required three sutures and that detectives found no indication that she was targeted because of her ethnicity. Lanksy’s family members believe he was in mental turmoil, according to the site.
According to court documents, Lanksy was charged last week with assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence in a different incident involving his wife and sister. According to Fox 2 Detroit, Newson believes Lanksy was also going through a mental health crisis at the time.
According to a representative for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, there is no proof that the attack on the 7-year-old was motivated by hatred.
However, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is pressing for a probe into hate crimes. It called the incident “senseless” and stated that “the assailant’s true motives remain unknown,” adding that the group has met with the girl’s family and the authorities.
“While the charges against… [Gary] Lansky are serious, we urge the Detroit Police Department and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter to determine whether hate was a motivating factor in the attack,” the chapter’s executive director, Dawud Walid, said in a statement.
Lanksy’s court documents did not include an attorney’s name. Wayne County prosecutors stated in a press statement that he was “given a $2 million cash/surety bond with a GPS tether and house arrest.”
