A man living unlawfully in the US has been arrested after he allegedly stabbed two teenagers with a metal fork in the head and chest during a mid-flight attack.
Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli, 28, attacked two 17-year-olds with the utensil during a Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt on Saturday, according to prosecutors.
The plane was diverted to Boston, Massachusetts, following the attack.
One of the boys had been asleep in a middle seat when he woke up to find India-born Usiripalli standing over him with a fork shortly after the cabin crew had served meals, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Usiripalli – who overstayed his American student visa after studying at a private evangelical college in Chicago – allegedly lunged forward and stabbed the teenager in the collarbone.
He then turned on another passenger, striking him in the back of the head.
Cabin crew intervened, but prosecutors said Usiripalli made a gun shape with his hand, put his fingers in his mouth and mimed pulling the trigger.
He then slapped a female passenger and tried to hit one of the crew members before being restrained.
Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli allegedly lunged forward and stabbed the teenager in the collarbone before turning on another passenger. Pictured: Stock image of a Lufthansa flight
Usiripalli has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to cause bodily harm. Pictured: Boston’s Logan International Airport, where he was arrested
The aircraft was forced to reroute to Boston’s Logan International Airport, where police apprehended him upon landing.
Usiripalli has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to cause bodily harm.
Authorities said he previously entered the US on a student visa and was enrolled in a master’s program in biblical studies, but no longer holds legal status in the country.
Usiripalli attended the Moody Bible Institute, which is a private evangelical Christian Bible college in Chicago, Illinois. The school has been contacted for comment.
He was living at an address in the Edgewater Glen neighborhood, just a few miles north of Chicago, at the time of his arrest, according to online records.
Usiripalli’s charge carries of a sentence of up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
This is not the first time a brawl has erupted on a flight. In August, passengers aboard an American Airlines plane were seen scrambling to get off as a man and a woman began brawling after the aircraft landed in Miami.
Footage of the violent incident showed the unidentified pair standing in the aisle.
The woman appeared to make a comment to the man, who retaliated by grabbing her by the neck and pushing her back into a row of seats.
Passengers onboard immediately called for the man to take his hands off her and one woman can be heard screaming ‘Oh my god!’
Another passenger stood up from his seat and appeared to grab the man, while a crew member can be heard saying ‘safety alert,’ over the PA system.
Other people onboard stepped in between the two, while passengers can be heard saying they need to get past to make their connecting flights.
‘Someone arrest him, somebody arrest this man. We’re trying to pass, someone needs to get this man. Call the police, he just choked her’, one woman shouted.