Beheading culture comes to the United States

Alton Nolen, 30, remains hospitalized in stable condition after Thursday's attack at the Vaughan Foods plant in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said.

He said that Nolen will be charged Monday with first-degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon and that he may also face federal charges.

Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said Nolen then allegedly stabbed Traci Johnson, 43, a number of times before Mark Vaughan, a reserve sheriff's deputy and the company's chief operating officer, shot him.

"This was not going to stop if he didn't stop it. It could have gotten a lot worse," Lewis said. "The threat had already stopped once we arrived."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for an Oklahoma City Islamic group said Saturday that Nolen was a frequent worshipper at a mosque the group maintains and that he remembers the suspect as "a little weird."

"He was a nice, quiet, low-key guy," said Saad Mohammed, director of information for the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City. "He acted a little odd," Mohammed said, though he added that Nolen's behaviour never raised any "red flags."

Mohammed said Nolen began worshipping at one of the group's mosques in May.