New York:
He could not have struck a more thoughtful tone. "My name is Michael Enright," he began in an e-mail sent in August 2009 to a young military veteran who had written a memoir about being a medic in Iraq.
Mr. Enright told the veteran, Michael Anthony, 24, that he was a film student concerned with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I would like to extend to you my greatest compliments on such a work so soon after your life-changing experience," wrote Mr. Enright, 21, who has been accused of stabbing a Muslim cabdriver on Tuesday in a hate crime.
In fact, Mr. Enright's interest in the plight of young troops was growing into a passion, say those who know him. Within two months of contacting Mr. Anthony, Mr. Enright traveled to Hawaii to join a Marine unit deploying to Afghanistan, with the idea of filming a documentary about their experiences.
He was already volunteering with a nonprofit group whose mission included fostering understanding between religions and cultures, veterans and civilians.
Mr. Enright told Mr. Anthony that he wanted to make a film about his book, "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq."
In several telephone conversations, some lasting as long as 45 minutes, Mr. Anthony recalled, "There was zero hint of bigotry, prejudice."
The conversations ended in the spring, when Mr. Enright left a message that he was going to Afghanistan.
The accusation that Mr. Enright attacked a cabdriver because he was Muslim has mystified many people who know him. Some wondered whether the five weeks he spent following Marines in Helmand Province scarred him or left him with the same type of stress that has afflicted many veterans.
Mr. Anthony said he last heard from Mr. Enright a few weeks ago, when he left a message that he was back and interested in resuming the film project. But there was nothing hinting at trouble.
"The next thing I know, I read that he's stabbed somebody," Mr. Anthony said.
Mr. Enright was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon. He was being held in Bellevue Hospital Center's prison ward on Thursday.
The police said Mr. Enright had been drinking for much of Tuesday afternoon before getting in the cab and exchanging pleasantries with the driver, Ahmed H. Sharif, 44, who is originally from Bangladesh. He asked Mr. Sharif if he was Muslim and greeted him with "salaam aleikum," an Arabic greeting that means "peace be upon you." He even asked Mr. Sharif how his celebration of Ramadan was going before he began cursing at him and slashing him in his face, arm and hands with a knife, Mr. Sharif told the police.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said on Thursday that Mr. Enright told detectives he had started drinking at 2 p.m., four hours before the attack. Along with an empty bottle of Scotch, investigators searching his backpack found notebooks in which he had described his experiences in Afghanistan, Mr. Kelly said. Investigators were seeking a warrant to examine the documents in greater detail, he said.
The attack has struck a chord in a city where tensions over a planned mosque two blocks from ground zero have escalated into a national debate, though neither Mr. Sharif -- who met with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at City Hall on Thursday -- nor Mr. Enright had indicated to the police that the issue had anything to do with the attack.
A senior film student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Mr. Enright lived with his mother in Brewster, N.Y.
He had minor scrapes with the law. He was arrested in November and charged with criminal trespass.
Three people who knew him said Mr. Enright had been in counseling for alcohol problems.
Most people interviewed said that Mr. Enright seemed sincerely focused on documenting the lives of soldiers in war zones.
He was inspired, neighbors said, by a friend he had known since middle school. The friend, Cpl. Alex Eckner, followed his brother into the Marines after graduating from Brewster High School in 2007.
Mr. Enright flew to Hawaii in October and spent a week with his friend's unit at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. The unit, the First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, was preparing to leave for Afghanistan, and Mr. Enright had his mind set on following along.
He was embedded with the unit on April 5 in Helmand Province, an area in southwestern Afghanistan known as a Taliban stronghold. Before the day Mr. Enright arrived, five members of the unit had been killed, including one who had died just three days earlier.
But no members of the unit, which returned to Hawaii in June, died after he arrived, though it is not clear if he filmed members of other units. Corporal Eckner, through a spokeswoman for the base, declined to be interviewed on Thursday.
Mr. Enright left Afghanistan on May 10, according to military officials in Afghanistan.
The Rev. Robert Chase, the founding director of Intersections International, which promotes interfaith understanding, spent a great deal of time with Mr. Enright, who volunteered with the group, before and after Afghanistan. "It was clear he had had an intense experience," Mr. Chase said.
"He wasn't, as I understand it, directly involved in any combat," Mr. Chase said. "But he was close enough, and as we all know about these two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conflict zones are very fluid, and he had expressed a real kind of intense empathy" for those serving there.
Mr. Chase said his group's work promoting dialogue between returning veterans and civilians had attracted Mr. Enright. After learning that he was interested in making a documentary on Marines in Afghanistan as part of his senior thesis, the group helped pay for his trips to Hawaii and Afghanistan.
Mr. Enright returned to Hawaii in June, again with the group's help, to film the unit's return home and a memorial service for its lost members.
What has made the accusations even more unfathomable, Mr. Chase said, was that Mr. Enright was concerned about the people of Afghanistan, especially the children, and had worked with Muslims in his group.
Ben Duffy, 21, a former college classmate who said he was a close friend, said Mr. Enright had been devastated by the death of some young men in Afghanistan whom he had filmed. "Enright really cared about those soldiers," he said.
Mr. Enright told the veteran, Michael Anthony, 24, that he was a film student concerned with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I would like to extend to you my greatest compliments on such a work so soon after your life-changing experience," wrote Mr. Enright, 21, who has been accused of stabbing a Muslim cabdriver on Tuesday in a hate crime.
In fact, Mr. Enright's interest in the plight of young troops was growing into a passion, say those who know him. Within two months of contacting Mr. Anthony, Mr. Enright traveled to Hawaii to join a Marine unit deploying to Afghanistan, with the idea of filming a documentary about their experiences.
He was already volunteering with a nonprofit group whose mission included fostering understanding between religions and cultures, veterans and civilians.
Mr. Enright told Mr. Anthony that he wanted to make a film about his book, "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq."
In several telephone conversations, some lasting as long as 45 minutes, Mr. Anthony recalled, "There was zero hint of bigotry, prejudice."
The conversations ended in the spring, when Mr. Enright left a message that he was going to Afghanistan.
The accusation that Mr. Enright attacked a cabdriver because he was Muslim has mystified many people who know him. Some wondered whether the five weeks he spent following Marines in Helmand Province scarred him or left him with the same type of stress that has afflicted many veterans.
Mr. Anthony said he last heard from Mr. Enright a few weeks ago, when he left a message that he was back and interested in resuming the film project. But there was nothing hinting at trouble.
"The next thing I know, I read that he's stabbed somebody," Mr. Anthony said.
Mr. Enright was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon. He was being held in Bellevue Hospital Center's prison ward on Thursday.
The police said Mr. Enright had been drinking for much of Tuesday afternoon before getting in the cab and exchanging pleasantries with the driver, Ahmed H. Sharif, 44, who is originally from Bangladesh. He asked Mr. Sharif if he was Muslim and greeted him with "salaam aleikum," an Arabic greeting that means "peace be upon you." He even asked Mr. Sharif how his celebration of Ramadan was going before he began cursing at him and slashing him in his face, arm and hands with a knife, Mr. Sharif told the police.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said on Thursday that Mr. Enright told detectives he had started drinking at 2 p.m., four hours before the attack. Along with an empty bottle of Scotch, investigators searching his backpack found notebooks in which he had described his experiences in Afghanistan, Mr. Kelly said. Investigators were seeking a warrant to examine the documents in greater detail, he said.
The attack has struck a chord in a city where tensions over a planned mosque two blocks from ground zero have escalated into a national debate, though neither Mr. Sharif -- who met with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at City Hall on Thursday -- nor Mr. Enright had indicated to the police that the issue had anything to do with the attack.
A senior film student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Mr. Enright lived with his mother in Brewster, N.Y.
He had minor scrapes with the law. He was arrested in November and charged with criminal trespass.
Three people who knew him said Mr. Enright had been in counseling for alcohol problems.
Most people interviewed said that Mr. Enright seemed sincerely focused on documenting the lives of soldiers in war zones.
He was inspired, neighbors said, by a friend he had known since middle school. The friend, Cpl. Alex Eckner, followed his brother into the Marines after graduating from Brewster High School in 2007.
Mr. Enright flew to Hawaii in October and spent a week with his friend's unit at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. The unit, the First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, was preparing to leave for Afghanistan, and Mr. Enright had his mind set on following along.
He was embedded with the unit on April 5 in Helmand Province, an area in southwestern Afghanistan known as a Taliban stronghold. Before the day Mr. Enright arrived, five members of the unit had been killed, including one who had died just three days earlier.
But no members of the unit, which returned to Hawaii in June, died after he arrived, though it is not clear if he filmed members of other units. Corporal Eckner, through a spokeswoman for the base, declined to be interviewed on Thursday.
Mr. Enright left Afghanistan on May 10, according to military officials in Afghanistan.
The Rev. Robert Chase, the founding director of Intersections International, which promotes interfaith understanding, spent a great deal of time with Mr. Enright, who volunteered with the group, before and after Afghanistan. "It was clear he had had an intense experience," Mr. Chase said.
"He wasn't, as I understand it, directly involved in any combat," Mr. Chase said. "But he was close enough, and as we all know about these two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conflict zones are very fluid, and he had expressed a real kind of intense empathy" for those serving there.
Mr. Chase said his group's work promoting dialogue between returning veterans and civilians had attracted Mr. Enright. After learning that he was interested in making a documentary on Marines in Afghanistan as part of his senior thesis, the group helped pay for his trips to Hawaii and Afghanistan.
Mr. Enright returned to Hawaii in June, again with the group's help, to film the unit's return home and a memorial service for its lost members.
What has made the accusations even more unfathomable, Mr. Chase said, was that Mr. Enright was concerned about the people of Afghanistan, especially the children, and had worked with Muslims in his group.
Ben Duffy, 21, a former college classmate who said he was a close friend, said Mr. Enright had been devastated by the death of some young men in Afghanistan whom he had filmed. "Enright really cared about those soldiers," he said.
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