Raul Morales, 51, has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime after stabbing two men on New York City's Upper West Side on Thursday. Both victims are expected to survive.
According to CBS News, Morales allegedly stabbed Moshe Grunhaus, a 50-year-old Jewish man, and a 57-year-old Asian man within the same incident. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch says Morales allegedly yelled "Allahu Akbar" during both attacks. The hate crime charge applies only to the attack on Grunhaus. For the Asian victim, Morales faces attempted murder and assault charges, but not as a hate crime.
Morales has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime, assault as a hate crime, and criminal possession of a weapon for the attack on Grunhaus. For the second stabbing, he faces attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police executed a search warrant Friday at Morales' apartment, which is near where the attacks took place. Investigators were seen removing a laptop and a bag of books, including the Quran and a book about Che Guevara. It is not clear if those items belong to Morales, who shared the apartment with other people.
Morales has no known mental health history with the NYPD, but Tisch said the initial investigation suggests mental health may have been a factor. His prior criminal history includes two open drug arrests in 1991 and five sealed arrests.
Grunhaus had been praying at a nearby synagogue just before he was stabbed. Rabbi Yosie Levine of the Jewish Center said he has known Grunhaus for about a decade. "Moshe had just gotten up to leave at around 1:30 after having spent the whole morning and beginning of the afternoon with us, and for this to happen 200 feet from our synagogue is just, it's almost hard to believe," Levine said. Levine visited Grunhaus at the hospital Friday morning and said he was released later that afternoon. "I was happy to see him. I was very relieved to see him alert and in relatively good spirits, all things considered," Levine said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the attacks in a statement. "I am thankful that [Morales] is being held accountable and hope he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This kind of despicable violence is not who we are as a city," Mamdani said in part. "Every New Yorker deserves to be safe, regardless of their religion or race. Our administration will always stand against bigotry and do everything in our power to root out antisemitism, racism, and hateful acts of all kinds."
