A man who allegedly pointed a knife at a child on a flight has been charged by federal prosecutors.
Unsealed court documents say Fredrick James Johnson, 39 brandished a knife on the Allegiant Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Tulsa.
The plane was diverted to Las Vegas where Johnson was arrested.
A federal prosecutor in Nevada charged Johnson, with simple assault.
Court documents said Johnson was dismantling a tablet device and trying to repair it, and asked the child to hold it.
In order to get the child to comply Johnson began ‘pointing (the knife) directly at the child’s abdomen,’ the affidavit said.
He was described as ‘acting confused and strange during the boarding process,’ investigators said.
A flight attendant reportedly took the knife without incident and Johnson was moved to another seat.
After diverting, the flight resumed about three hours later to Tulsa.
It remains unclear how he managed to get the knife onboard the flight undetected at LAX.
There had been relatively little publicity about the incident as it happened the very same day Esteban Santiago went on a shooting rampage at Fort Lauderdale Airport, killing five people.
