Man who stabbed 2 near New York’s Central Park yelled ‘Allahu Akbar,’ police say - NBC News

What the report says

NBC News reported that a 51-year-old man, Raul Morales, was charged Friday with hate crime counts after two men were stabbed Thursday afternoon near Central Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. According to officials cited by NBC, the attacks began at about 1:31 p.m. and occurred a few blocks apart near Central Park West, around 84th and 86th streets.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Morales was arraigned late Friday on two counts of second-degree attempted murder as a hate crime, as well as assault-related hate crime charges. He was ordered held without bail, and his next court appearance was set for July 30. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said witnesses reported that Morales shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attacks. Prosecutors said in court that the first victim, a 57-year-old Asian man, was stabbed in the back with a knife, and that the second victim, a Jewish man wearing a kippah who had left a synagogue, was stabbed in the chest with a screwdriver.

NBC reported that both victims were expected to survive. New York City Comptroller Mark Levine identified them at a news conference as Chok Sung and Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, saying Grunhaus had been leaving The Jewish Center after a Tisha B’av service. Prosecutors also cited complaint language saying a witness saw Morales near a synagogue on West 83rd Street saying “justice for Islam.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the violence was horrific and that every New Yorker should be safe regardless of religion or race. NBC reported that police said there was no evidence the victims knew Morales or each other.