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Marine Corps: Hanukkah Stabbing Suspect Was Kicked Out of Boot Camp

A Marine Corps spokeswoman said Grafton Thomas was kicked out over “fraudulent enlistment.”

The man charged with stabbing five during a Hanukkah celebration in New York was kicked out of the U.S. Marine Corps boot camp for “fraudulent enlistment,” the Associated Press reports. A Marine Corps spokeswoman on Tuesday said Grafton Thomas left the Marines while he was a recruit in late 2002, about one month after his training started. Fraudulent enlistment typically means that an individual falsely represented or deliberately concealed information about one's qualifications. Thomas' attorney told reporters about his client's short stint in the Marines on Monday, providing a hand-written resume stating that Thomas trained in Parris Island, South Carolina. He further told the AP that his client “suffered a wrist injury during basic training” and was subsequently “released from that training.”

Thomas, who is accused of injuring five with a machete at a rabbi's home, was hit with hate crime charges on Monday—five federal counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon. He also pleaded not guilty to five state counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. He is being held without bail.