Mother of 7-year-old girl attacked with knife in Detroit: 'Why did he aim for her?'

Amirah Sharhan, a Yemeni mother from Detroit, said she doesn't know why a 73-year-old man slit her daughter's throat at a park full of children, in broad daylight.

But she does have questions, considering her 7-year-old daughter who survived the knife attack is Arab and Muslim.

"Why did he aim for her? Why come out of nowhere? Why?" Sharhan, 32, asked on Friday. "I don't want my daughter's case to be pushed to the side, at all."

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has said there is no evidence of a hate crime. Despite that statement, Michigan's Council on American Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights organization, on Friday called for a "hate crime probe" into the young girl's assault.

"We urge the Detroit Police Department and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this matter to determine whether hate was a motivating factor in the attack," said Dawud Walid, the executive director of Michigan's CAIR.

Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, on Friday wouldn't elaborate beyond her previous comments: "At this time WCPO has no evidence of a hate crime in the case."

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who is Palestinian, on Thursday posted about the attack on X: "'Randomly,'" she wrote in quotations, referring to an online post's characterization of the attack. "This is horrific."

When asked about the incident on Friday, Tlaib said in a statement the attack on the girl, Saida Mashrah, "must be investigated as a hate crime."

"The constant dehumanization of Arab and Muslim people is resulting in hate crimes across our country," Tlaib said. "Saida is a beautiful 7-year-old Yemeni American who was senselessly attacked while playing in a park near her home. She will live with the trauma of this horrific violence for the rest of her life."

More: Detroit man, 73, slashed child's throat in park while horrified kids played, police say

The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon while Saida, Sharhan's daughter, was at Ryan Park northwest of Ford Road and the Southfield Freeway in Detroit with her grandmother. Saida said in an interview with her mother's consent that the man who attacked her said nothing when he went up to her with a knife, lifted her head up, and slashed her throat. The young girl kicked her attacker and rushed home nearby on Stahelin Avenue to her mother and to safety.

The suspect, Gary Lansky of Detroit, was taken into custody that day and was later charged with assault with intent to murder and felonious assault. Police said he may suffer from mental illness. His wife told the Free Press the same.

Sharhan, still in shock and heartbreak, recalled on Friday the moment her daughter came running home, blood dripping down from a wound deep enough to see bone.

Saida's doctors said she's lucky to be alive, the mother said. And at the hospital, Sharhan said, she could feel all of her daughter's pain.

"I wouldn't wish that on anyone," she said. Sharhan now is having trouble sleeping.

As for Saida, the girl told the Free Press: "I feel brave. I feel strong."

Her mother sat next to her, proud.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at asahouri@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mother of 7-year-old girl attacked with knife in Detroit: 'Why did he aim for her?'