20 people stabbed, and 5 have died in 3-state spree.
Composite sketch of man suspected in Flint, Michigan stabbings. Washington -- A man suspected in a series of stabbings in Virginia, Michigan and Ohio was arrested at the Atlanta airport as he tried to board a plane bound for Israel.
A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the agency's officers arrested the man about 10 p.m. Wednesday night at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, as he attempted to board a Delta flight for Tel Aviv. The suspect was handed over to the FBI and Atlanta police.
Spokesman Rafael Lemaitre says the man is wanted on arrest warrants in murder cases in Michigan and Leesburg, Va.
At least 20 people have been stabbed in three states; five of the victims died.
Leesburg Police Officer Chris Jones said the suspect has ties to Leesburg and to Flint, Mich., where the attacks began May 24.
Jones says police "have information that he was trying to leave the country."
Police had been focusing their hunt on Flint until Leesburg police reported three similar attacks last week. Authorities in Toledo, Ohio say a stabbing in that city Saturday appears to be linked to the violent spree.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a task force led by the Michigan State Police and including the FBI had received 469 tips. Those tips have been passed out to the various law enforcement teams involved in the case.
The task force released a list Wednesday of the dates, times and locations of the 16 stabbings in the Flint area, about 50 miles northwest of Detroit.
That list showed the suspect was most active during pre-dawn hours and on Mondays.
Of the 16 attacks, six were committed between 12:15 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Mondays. Four of the fatal attacks also were on Mondays, according to a list provided by the task force.
Six attacks happened in the hour or so just before dawn on other days.
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