San Francisco airport attack suspect from Yuba City, shared 9/11 conspiracies

A Yuba City man has been charged in connection with last week’s machete attack at San Francisco International Airport, which left three injured.

Karamjit Singh, 33, is being charged in San Mateo County with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, as well as a vandalism charge.

According to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, Singh entered SFO’s international terminal on Friday and stabbed three people with a 2-foot machete near the ticket counter and food court.

The attacker appeared to be motivated by a conspiracy theory related to the 9/11 attacks. After slashing his first two victims, prosecutors say Singh dropped a stack of papers with his writings claiming that Greeks and Indians were responsible for the terrorist attack.

Prosecutors say Singh continued to distribute his writings throughout the airport and, at one point, wrote similar sentiments on the airport wall.

San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said that responders arrested Singh at the scene, and deemed him to be suffering a mental health crisis. Police first brought him to a psychiatric care facility; he was later transferred to jail, where he is being held without bail.

Both mental health issues and his “diatribe about who was really responsible for 9/11” seem to be the motivators of the attack, Wagstaffe said. He added that Singh is believed to have previously shared 9/11-related conspiracy theories with Yuba City police and the FBI.

All three victims of the machete attack are expected to recover. The first two victims suffered severe slash wounds to the back and shoulder, while the third victim received minor injuries, Wagstaffe said.

Singh’s arraignment was delayed to Friday for the court to provide a Punjabi interpreter.

This story was originally published June 23, 2022 at 10:58 AM.