A 51-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime in one of two stabbings on New York City's Upper West Side. Raul Morales faces additional charges after allegedly attacking two men in separate incidents on Thursday afternoon.
Police said the attacks began around 1:30 p.m. when a 57-year-old Asian man was stabbed near West 84th Street and Central Park West. A short time later, a 50-year-old Jewish man named Moshe Grunhaus was stabbed at the corner of 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Both victims are expected to survive, with Grunhaus released from the hospital Friday afternoon.
Morales was taken into custody around 2:45 p.m. after barricading himself in a nearby apartment building. He has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime, assault as a hate crime, and criminal possession of a weapon in the attack on Grunhaus. For the other stabbing, he faces attempted murder, assault, and weapon charges but not as a hate crime.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said victim and witness statements indicated Morales yelled "Allahu Akbar" during both attacks. The initial investigation suggests mental health may have been a factor, though Morales has no known mental health history with the NYPD. His prior record includes two open drug arrests from 1991 and five sealed arrests.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement that the suspect is being held accountable and that every New Yorker deserves to be safe regardless of religion or race. Rabbi Yosie Levine, who visited Grunhaus at the hospital, described the incident as intolerable and said it cannot go on like this.
