New Hire Charged in Stabbings Aboard Cruise Ship

Norwegian Encore was sailing from Seattle to Alaska
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 8, 2024 5:40 PM CDT
Cruise Ship Worker Charged in Stabbings of 3
The Norwegian Encore is docked at downtown Juneau, Alaska, in October 2022.   (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

A cruise ship worker from South Africa was arrested Tuesday in Alaska's capital city, accused of attacking a woman and two security guards with scissors on board the vessel, according to authorities. The US attorney's office says the 35-year-old man is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon within maritime and territorial jurisdiction. According to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Matthew Judy, the man was recently hired by a cruise line and joined the ship, the Norwegian Encore, in Seattle on Sunday. The ship set off that day for a weeklong trip with scheduled stops in Alaska ports, including Juneau, and British Columbia, the AP reports.

Officials said the attack happened west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, as the ship was sailing to Alaska. According to the affidavit, during the "late evening" Sunday, ship personnel saw the man trying to deploy a lifeboat, and he was taken by security to a medical center for an evaluation. While there, he "became irrational and attempted to leave" and physically attacked a guard and a nurse, the affidavit states. He ran into another room, where he grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed a woman who was being examined, as well as two guards who tried to intervene before being subdued and held in a "shipboard jail," the affidavit says.

None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, per the AP. The ship arrived in Juneau on Tuesday, when the man was arrested by the FBI, the US attorney's office says. Online court records do not show an attorney for the suspect.

(More cruise ships stories.)

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