Group calls for hate crime charges after 7-year-old slashed at park

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A civil rights group is calling for prosecutors to file hate crime charges against a suspect accused of attacking a 7-year-old girl at a park in Detroit.

Gary Lansky, 73, was arrested last week after an incident at a playground at Lloyd H. Ryan Park.

The Arab-American Civil Rights League held a news conference Monday alongside the victim’s family and shared more details of the reported attack. Lansky allegedly approached 7-year-old Saida Mashrah, slashed her throat and tried to stab her in the stomach before she got away.

After attacking the child, Lansky allegedly approached her grandmother, but eventually fled after Saida and other children at the park started to scream.

Saida needed 20 stitches, but her family and supporters argue the mental and emotional anguish far exceeds any physical injury.

“We’ve been through a lot. The nightmares me and my children go through. We sleep in one bedroom now, me and my three children, because of how scared we are,” Saida’s mother Amirah Sharhan said during the news conference. “Imagine it was your children. You would be heartbroken, too.”

The family and the ACRL believe Saida was targeted by Lansky because of her race. ACRL officials said Saida and her grandmother were the only Arab people in the park during the attack.

“This was not a random act of violence. This was a tragic, vicious attack,” ACRL Executive Director Mariam Charara said at the news conference . “(Saida) and her family were visibly different in that park. We know that if the tables were turned and it were an Arab American man that committed this act, there would be no hesitation in how this case would be prosecuted.”

The ACRL says it has reached out to the office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the FBI to investigate further and look for evidence of any animosity toward Arab or Muslim communities.

According to online court records , Lansky has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to murder. The latter charge carries a sentence up to life in prison.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy provided a statement to multiple media outlets on why she hasn’t filed hate crime charges.

“If we had any evidence that this was a hate crime and we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, we would not hesitate to charge it as a hate crime. I am happy to have the prosecutor handling this case reach out to the family for an in-person meeting,” Worthy stated.

Lansky’s family told WDIV-TV that he was suffering from a mental health episode during the attack.

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