An Alaska Airlines passenger stabbed a man who was sitting next to him with a makeshift pen shank in a bloody attack before threatening his wife and son, police said.

Julio Alvarez Lopez was arrested on Jan. 24 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon after the bloody altercation.

Lopez allegedly planned an attack to kill a fellow passenger, which he attempted to carry out mid-flight on the trip between Seattle and Las Vegas using the makeshift weapon.

The suspect was described as ‘fidgety’ throughout the flight while traveling from Seattle to Las Vegas last month, according to documents obtained by 8 News Now. 

When returning to his seat after an unusually long visit to the restrooms, he began ‘punching and hitting’ the man seated across the aisle, attempting to stab him in the eye, according to the outlet.

Lopez also allegedly attacked the victim’s wife as she attempted to protect their 7-year-old child from the violent man.

A witness told investigators there ‘was blood everywhere.’

‘During the altercation, [the victim’s] wife was screaming at the defendant to stop hitting her husband,’ an FBI agent wrote in a court filing. ‘[A witness] unbuckled her seatbelt and yelled at the defendant to stop.

An official on board the flight ordered Lopez to take a seat while crew then ‘worked to provide flex cuffs and the defendant was restrained for the remainder of the flight.’

Following the brutal attack, Lopez started ‘screaming, ‘I’ll only talk to the FBI.’

He told airport officials during an interview that he allegedly ‘felt the mafia had been chasing him’ and that he had never seen the victim ‘but planned on killing [him]’ as he believed he was being followed, documents said.

Investigators found the weapon, composed of pens and rubber bands, according to documents.

A federal grand jury indicted Lopez on an assault charge Wednesday.

The attack is the latest in high-profile incidents involving Alaska Airlines. Yesterday, Boeing has reportedly fired the chief of its 737 Max program following the Alaska Airlines plane scandal, which exposed a litany of safety failings.
Ed Clark, vice president of the MAX program and general manager at the Renton facility, is leaving the company after 18 years.

He is set to be replaced by Katie Ringgold, the current vice president 737 delivery operations.’

It comes after a faulty door plug caused a panel to detach at 16,000 feet from a Boeing 737 series aircraft on an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5. The plane was assembled at the Renton facility.

Read the full story originally published on dailymail.co.uk