Canadian sentenced to life in prison for U.S. airport attack

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A Canadian man convicted of terrorism for nearly killing an airport police officer in Michigan was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

U.S. prosecutors said Amor Ftouhi drove 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from Montreal to the airport in Flint, Michigan, where he yelled “God is great” in Arabic and repeatedly stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville in 2017.

Investigators said Ftouhi wanted to stab Neville, take his gun and start shooting people in the airport. He legally drove into the U.S. at Champlain, New York, and arrived in Flint five days later. He tried but failed to buy a gun at a gun show and instead bought a large knife.

Prosecutors have said he told investigators his “mission was to kill and be killed.”

His defense lawyer, Joan Morgan, said Ftouhi wasn’t attempting to create mass casualties and wanted to be killed so his family could collect life insurance and so he could become a martyr.

Before sentencing, Ftouhi told the judge he had no regrets and only wished he could have acquired a machine gun that day to kill Neville and others.

Ftouhi, who moved to Canada in 2007, was convicted in November. He was sentenced in a federal courtroom in Flint by U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman.

The case was a slam dunk for federal prosecutors, who sought a life sentence. They noted that witnesses saw Ftouhi attack Neville and wrestled him to the ground.