FLINT, MI - Amor Ftouhi cried when he learned that he didn't complete his mission and failed to kill a Bishop Airport police officer, a federal agent testified during Ftouhi's trial on Thursday, Nov. 8.

The third day of Ftouhi's trial included testimony from federal agents and others who responded to the airport on June 21, 2017, and testimony from a Royal Canadian Police officer who searched Ftouhi's apartment in Montreal.

Ftouhi plotted the attack because of financial difficulties and wanted to kill a police officer and then be killed to get into heaven, federal prosecutors allege.

He picked Bishop Airport because it would allow the world to learn of his support of al-Qaida and embolden others, according to testimony.

He is accused of stabbing airport police Lt. Jeff Neville with a 12-inch serrated knife Ftouhi bought for $15 after vendors wouldn't let him buy a firearm at a gun and knife show.

After an airport maintenance man stopped Ftouhi's attack on Neville, the suspect was handcuffed and escorted into a holding cell within the airport.

"He asked us if the officer was dead. I responded with 'I didn't know,'" said Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Shadi Elreda, one of three agents who interrogated Ftouhi. "He put his head down and was crying. He said his intention was to kill the officer."

Neville survived the attack and is expected to testify during the trial.

"He said there was significance in an international airport -- that the whole world would see what he did," Elreda said. "He wanted all the Muslims to see what he did -- to not be afraid and to act against the enemy."

Ftouhi told investigators he visited a few mosques in Flint before heading to Bishop Airport.

Investigators learned during the interrogation that Ftouhi lived in Canada with his wife for about 20 years. The couple had three children together, according to testimony.

Canadian investigators who searched his apartment a day after the stabbing also found a list of gun and knife shows across Michigan and one in Virginia in a backpack that was found during a search of Ftouhi's apartment.

Ftouhi's handwritten will and testament was found in a safe in an apartment closet.

The document said Ftouhi loved his wife and children, but he was struggling finding a job and was feeling shame, humiliation and remorse that he had a large amount of debt.

Ftouhi wrote in the will that he has loved his wife for 20 years, but his love for Jihad was stronger.

"This is what a Muslim is born for," Maryse Robert, a federal investigator with the Royal Canadian Police said Ftouhi's will stated. "You have been a good wife for more than 20 years. My love for God Almighty and the jihad for his sake is greater.

"I suggest that you use the life insurance policy to return to Tunisia."

Defense Attorney Bryan Sherer suggested during cross-examination that the document in the safe was a letter from Ftouhi to his wife suggesting regret for his financial woes and telling her Ftouhi loved her.

Ftouhi grew up in Tunisia and told federal agents he was in the North African country and celebrated following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Ftouhi told prosecutors he was not allowed to purchase a gun in Michigan because he wasn't an American citizen.

He decided he would use a knife to complete the attack on an airport officer, take their gun and continue shooting people.

"He said that he was here for his mission -- his mission was to kill a United States government employee," Elreda testified. "His mission was to kill and be killed. He said his mission was not over."

The date of June 21 was especially important to Ftouhi because it was "laylat al-qadr" - which means night of power -- during Muslim's holy month of Ramadan, prosecutors said. That is believed to be when the first verses of the Koran were brought to the Prophet Mohammad.

"He said he would have a better chance of success and enter into heaven," Elreda said. "He said they needed to act against the enemies of Allah. He blamed the United States government for their support of Israel."

Elreda told the court that Ftouhi asked Elreda to kill him multiple times during the interrogation.

Elreda told Sherer that he asked Ftouhi during the interrogation why he didn't use a bomb or car to conduct his attack.

"He said he didn't want to hurt innocent people," Elreda testified during Sherer's cross-examination. "He admitted that he had no communication with al-Qaida or Isis. He said he had no communication with any terrorist organization."

Ftouhi faces up to life in prison and is charged with committing an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, violence at an international airport and interference with airport security.

The trial in U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman's court is expected to continue on Friday, Nov. 9.