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The girl escaped the attack and made it to nearby police for help.
A 29-year-old man is being held without bail after he allegedly stabbed a trans teen girl 18 times with “a long butcher knife” and tried to throw her off a fourth-floor balcony at a Florida airport, according to court documents obtained by The Advocate.
Alexander Love was taken into custody at Miami International Airport on Saturday and charged with attempted first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and attempted premeditated first-degree murder in the unprovoked stabbing attack. The unnamed victim, a Black 17-year-old transgender girl, was taken to a local hospital and underwent emergency surgery.
Video by Only in Dade showed a chaotic aftermath with other passengers running while the suspect is apparently arrested at gunpoint on an upstairs level. An unidentified man appears to be holding and comforting the victim during the video. (Editor's note: The video may be upsetting to some readers.)
“As the officers were arriving, some of the patrons from the airport were automatically thinking that there was an active shooter,” Miami-Dade Police Department spokesperson Detective Alex Rodriguez told local NBC affiliate WSVN.
According to the arrest affidavit, Love told police he met the girl and “became acquainted” with her at the airport. At some point after meeting the girl, Love claimed he was “possibly drugged and someone inserted an unknown object in his rectum.” Thinking the victim might have been responsible for whatever he said happened, Love claimed he purchased a knife at a local Target store before attacking the victim.
Investigators reviewed CCTV footage and saw Love “lying in wait in the prone position looking towards the direction of the victim” while she sat on the floor eating a meal before he removed the knife from his backpack and repeatedly stabbed her about the arms, shoulders, neck, face, head, and legs unprovoked.
Related: Here are the 19 transgender Americans lost to violence so far this year
Love then tried to lift the girl over the glass safety retaining wall protecting the fourth-floor balcony, where she would have fallen to the first floor below. The girl was able to escape her attacker and fled to the safety of police on the third floor.
Police were quickly able to identify Love and take him into custody.
At a court appearance on Monday, Judge Mindy S. Glazer denied Love bail on both counts.
“No bond on count one. No bond on count two. Good day, sir,” Glazer tersely told Love, WSVN reported.
The victim reportedly remains in an area hospital. Initial reports said she was received in critical condition, although no further updates have been provided on her condition.
