A man who served 35 years in prison for hijacking an airplane and nearly killing his sister with a hammer will soon call Edmonton home.
Larry Maxwell Stanford, 56, will be released into the community Friday after serving time for hijacking Quebecair flight number QB321 in December 1972.
Stanford, then 21, took control of the plane with a .22-caliber rifle. Fifty-seven passengers and a handful of crew members were held hostage for 10 and a half hours while he demanded to be flown from one airport to another, a Houston Airport paper reports.
"(He threatened us) a lot at the beginning when he got on, when the passengers were on he was really, really bad," an unidentified flight attendant told CTV on Dec. 14, 1972.
Stanford was eventually convinced to release all the passengers after the plane landed in Montreal.
Hours later, his father and a psychologist coaxed him out of the plane. No one was injured in the incident.
Stanford was sentenced to 20 years for the crime.
About a year into serving parole in Gander, N.L. for the hijacking, he attacked his sister with a hammer, giving her serious brain injury.
He was convicted of attempted murder in 1984 and sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison.
Stanford is currently serving the rest of his time in the Edmonton Institution. He allegedly expressed interest in living in the city as parents live in Edmonton.
Police spokesman Jeff Wuite said he is considered to be a violent offender and he poses a risk "of significant harm" to the community because his violent outbursts have been unpredictable.
"The officers have determined they believe he still poses a significant risk to the community and therefore it is in the community's best interest to be aware that he is planning on making his home here in Edmonton," he said.
Stanford is a white man, 5'7 tall, 140 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair.
