A 73-year-old Michigan man accused of slashing a young girl’s throat this week on the city’s west side has been charged.
Gary Lansky was arraigned Thursday in 36th District Court in Detroit, according to court records. He is charged with assault with intent to murder.
A magistrate set Lansky’s bond at $2 million and scheduled his next court hearing for October 16. Records also said a hearing to re-determine his bond is scheduled for Monday.
If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.
Court records did not list an attorney for Lansky on Friday.
Detroit police officers were called at about 3:45 p.m. on October 8 to a home on Stahelin Avenue for a report of a stabbing.
They arrived and found a young girl with a laceration on her throat being treated by medics.
According to a preliminary investigation, the defendant approached the child at a park in the 5800 block of Greenview Avenue near the Southfield Freeway and Ford Road then cut her throat before fleeing.
Detectives’ investigation led them to Lansky as a suspect and they arrested him later in the day.
On Friday, officials with the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-MI, identified the victim as Saida Mashra. They also said the girl is Muslim.
“CAIR-Michigan is saddened to hear about the attack of 7-year-old Saida while playing in a park near her home,” Dawud Walid, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
“Regardless of the motive, this attack was a senseless act of violence that will impact the lives of Saida, her family, and all of the other children who were in the park that day.”
The group said it believes the assault could be a hate crime.
“Although at this time there is no evidence that this attack was motivated by hate, the assailant’s true motives remain unknown,” it said in a statement. “CAIR-MI is calling on police and the prosecutor to conduct a thorough investigation into Gary Lansky’s motives for the attack.”
They also said the group has spoken with the family and Detroit police and is monitoring this situation.
