NANTUCKET, MASS. (WHDH) - An undocumented immigrant from Mexico accused of killing one fisherman during a hammer and knife attack on a Virginia-based fishing vessel about 55 miles off the coast of Nantucket over the weekend will be arraigned Wednesday in federal court.
Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez, 27, who faces up to life in prison and possible deportation, is slated to appear in the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse to face several charges, including one count of murder and one count of attempted murder, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A Boston-based spokesman says the Coast Guard received a call Sunday afternoon from the 83-foot Captain Billy Haver, reporting that a member of the crew had attacked several other fishermen with a hammer and a knife.
The Coast Guard placed a law enforcement team on board the vessel and arrested Vazquez.
A German cruise ship, the Mein Schiff 6, responded to the emergency call and took two injured crewmembers aboard. The ship’s doctor pronounced one dead.
Vazquez allegedly assaulted a crew member with a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other. The victim saw that another crewmember was lying on the deck bleeding, prompting Vazquez to strike a third crew member, investigators said.
Crew members told law enforcement that Vazquez climbed up the mast of the ship as others onboard tried to capture him.
Court documents indicate Vazquez was living illegally in the United States and that he was arrested in March in Newport News, Virginia, on charges of abduction by force, intimidation, and deception.
After local police released him at the time to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an immigration judge granted Vazquez bond over ICE objections and he was released, an agency spokesman said Tuesday.
The fishing trawler and cruise ship have since returned to Boston.
The names of the victims have not been released.
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