Saida Mashrash is a 7-year-old girl who lives in Detroit, Michigan. On Tuesday, October 8, she was playing in a park when, all of a sudden, a 73-year-old man, Gary Lansky, approached her and, using a pocket knife, slit Saida's throat. Fortunately, Saida was able to recover, but this senseless act of violence still has many questions to be answered.
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While Saida was minding her own business, playing in Ryan Park, a man approached her. "I was playing on a spinning thing that was green ... and I was playing ... and then I saw like a man, and I said, like, hi to him. And he ... was coming towards me, and he was ... walking to me like that," Saida told to WXYZ Detroit.
Saida's politeness was met violently soon after when Gary Lansky used a pocket knife to harm her. "And he just put my head up," said Saida. "The other thing was a pocket knife. And then he just slide the knife on my throat."
Thankfully, the cut was not fatal as Saida began to run and screamed for help, not before he kicked Lansky first. Saida, while bleeding, started to run home with her grandma. Fortunately, her neighbors were able to hear her and provided help. Donna Mockbil and her son, her next-door neighbors, aided Saida.
"I just immediately ... grabbed some gauze pads, and put them on her ... to help her and help her stop bleeding," said Donna, who was in shock after seeing Saida in such a state. "She goes, 'oh I'm going to die and nobody is going to be here with me,' and I started getting tears in my eyes."
Mental Health Crisis Or Hate Crime?
First responders later transported Saida to a local hospital where she received 20 stitches across her neck. Her mom, Amira Sharhan, spoke with CBS Detroit. "They said she was lucky," she said, "She's very lucky. It was really deep, the cut."
Donna Mockbil's son followed the 73-year-old who was later apprehended by police. He was later charged with assault with intent to murder and felonious assault. While the crime is not being treated as a hate crime, the Council of American Islamic Relations is insisting on it to be treated as such.
"He came up to her out of all the kids, like why her," said Saida's mother, Amira. "It's unbelievable. I don't know how to explain it really." Meanwhile, police believe that Lansky was experiencing a mental crisis episode when he slit Saida's throat. "In my 40 years of policing ... mental health has become one of the forefront issues in our community," said Vernal Newson, Detroit Police Commander.
Lansky remains in custody, being held on $2 million bail.
