Two teens were allegedly stabbed with a metal fork by a passenger aboard a Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. He also slapped a female passenger and gestured suicide during the unprovoked attacks that led pilots to make an emergency landing in Boston on Saturday. Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli, the 28-year-old master’s student from India, first stood over a 17-year-old passenger who was asleep after meal service and assaulted him with a metal fork, striking him in the left clavicle, the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said on Monday.
Using the same fork, the attacker then stabbed another 17-year-old in the back of the head. 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. The grad student then turned to his left and slapped a female passenger with his hand before trying to slap another member of the crew, New York Post has reported.
Prosecutors said the second teenager sustained a cut to the back of his head during the incident. The flight was diverted to Boston Logan International Airport, where Usiripalli was immediately arrested, according to authorities.
Usiripalli is an Indian national who “does not have lawful immigration status in the United States”, prosecutors added.
Federal authorities claimed he had previously entered the United States on a student visa and had most recently been enrolled in a master’s programme in biblical studies.
According to officials, Usiripalli has been charged in the US District Court with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to cause bodily harm while travelling on an aircraft within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison, a further three years under supervision following his release, and a fine of up to $250,000 (£187,500).
He will appear in federal court in Boston on a later date, prosecutors added.
