A man suspected in a three-state stabbing spree is due in court in Atlanta for an extradition hearing after he was arrested at the airport before flying out of the country.

Thirty-three-year-old Elias Abuelazam (eh-lee-AHS' ah-boo-ehl-ah-ZAHM') was scheduled to appear in a Fulton County court on Friday. He was arrested Wednesday before boarding a flight to his native Israel and charged with attempted murder in a July 27 knife strike in Flint, Mich., where all but four of the 18 attacks occurred.

Other attacks were in Leesburg, Va., and Toledo, Ohio.

Fulton County Superior Court spokesman Don Plummer said it would an extradition hearing. Abuelazam, an Israeli citizen who is in the U.S. with a green card, was living in Flint.