NEW YORK CITY — A 51-year-old man stabbed two people in broad daylight near Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City Thursday afternoon, according to police, who are evaluating whether the attacks were potential hate crimes.
The assailant, identified as Raul Morales, attacked the two men in separate incidents at around 1:30 p.m., leaving them wounded, the police said. Both were expected to survive.
It was not immediately clear what led to the midday attack in the heart of the Upper West Side, a residential neighborhood with low crime rates.
The initial investigation suggests mental health may have been a factor in the stabbings, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
One victim was an Asian man and the other was a Jewish man, Tisch said.
The suspect is in custody as an investigation into a possible motive is ongoing, police said.
Both victims — ages 57 and 50 — were stabbed “throughout” their bodies, according to police. The attack was unprovoked, two law enforcement sources said.
“At this time there is no known link between Morales and either of the victims, nor between the victims and each other,” Tisch said.
Police received a 911 call just after 1:30 pm and found the first victim conscious and alert with a stab wound to his back, according to a law enforcement official.
The other victim was stabbed in the chest, according to a source. One stabbing took place at West 84th Street and Central Park West, and the other happened just blocks away near West 86th Street and Central Park West. They were transferred to Mount Sinai Morningside in stable condition and are expected to survive.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed in a post on X he had been briefed on the “horrifying stabbings” and police are investigating the motive of the attacks.
“These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city,” Mamdani wrote, adding that he is relieved both victims are in stable condition.
Volunteers with the Jewish civilian neighborhood watch group Shomrim said they responded to a call to their hotline and arrived to the scene after one of the stabbings.
The victim they saw was wearing a yarmulke, the skullcap traditionally worn by many Jewish men, and was either on his way to or returning from synagogue, Shomrim volunteer Michael Jacobs told CNN.
Jacobs said volunteers saw the suspect flee and credited officers with a rapid response that led to an arrest. “The police response was very, very quick, which was massively helpful in order to be able to catch him,” he said.
On Wednesday, the day before the Manhattan stabbings, the police were investigating two separate hate crimes in Brooklyn and Queens, involving anti-Muslim statements and an assault in which the assailant made antisemitic remarks.
About half the attacks this year targeted Jewish people, making antisemitic violence the largest share of hate crimes in the city. In the same period, the department recorded 33 attacks against people based on their sexual orientation and 10 against Asian New Yorkers.
Source: Saudi Gazette