A Detroit man was arrested this week on suspicion of slashing a 7-year-old girl in the neck in a park.
Gary Lansky, 73, has been charged with assault with intent to murder, a felony, in connection with Tuesday’s attack at Ryan Park in Detroit, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) identified the young female victim as a Yemeni-American Muslim girl who was playing in a park near her home at the time of the attack.
According to Detroit police, Lansky approached the girl in the park, cut her throat with a knife, and then fled the scene. He was arrested later that day.
Officers responded to a residence around 3:45 p.m. after receiving a report of a stabbing and found the girl with a laceration to her throat. She was treated at a hospital and released the same day, police said.
CAIR is calling on Detroit police and prosecutors to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether this incident was a hate crime.
The statement said the attack was a “senseless act of violence that affected the lives of the child, his family, and all other children who were in the park that day.”
A Detroit Police Department spokesperson said the department has completed its investigation and handed it over to the prosecutor’s office, where charges have been determined.
“At this time, there is no information to support hate crime charges,” Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller said.
Mr. Lansky was arraigned Thursday in 36th District Court. He was released on $2 million bail and placed under house arrest with a GPS tether, prosecutors said.
A bond redetermination hearing is scheduled for Monday and a probable cause conference for Wednesday, prosecutors said.
It is unclear whether Mr. Runcie has an attorney who can argue on his behalf.
