Washington, Aug 12 (DPA): A white man suspected of killing at least five people since May and attacking more than a dozen others has reportedly singled out people with dark or black skin, according to media reports Wednesday.

Federal investigators have joined Michigan colleagues in the hunt for the suspect, who may have carried out knife, hammer and other attacks in a three-state area.

Leesburg, Virginia, police Wednesday told the Examiner that an attack Friday night in a parking lot of a strip mall had been captured on security cameras, according to the Washington Post/Examiner. In the Leesburg area alone, three dark-skinned men had been attacked over four days in August, two with a knife and one with a hammer wielded by a white stranger.

The murder and attack spree began in Flint, Michigan, where at least 16 people have been attacked since May, including the five killed in Flint.

The latest Flint victim was stabbed and seriously injured Saturday morning outside a medical centre, the Detroit Free Press reported. The newspaper said all but two of the victims in the region had been black men, many of slight build and elderly.

Another man was recently attacked in Toledo, Ohio in a similar fashion, the Detroit newspaper reported.