By Gus Saltonstall
Raul Morales has been indicted for attempted murder and assault as a hate crime in connection with stabbing two men in July on the Upper West Side, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Tuesday.
“As alleged, Raul Morales violently assaulted two innocent New Yorkers for no other reason than his belief they were Jewish,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, in a news release. “The members of the NYPD responded quickly, identified the suspect, and took him into custody that same afternoon. That is what the NYPD has done, and will continue to do, in response to antisemitic hate crimes and hate crimes of any kind: respond immediately, conduct a thorough investigation, and pursue complete accountability under the law.”
Around 1:30 p.m. on July 23, Morales allegedly approached a 57-year-old Asian man from behind on West 84th Street and Central Park West, and stabbed him, unprovoked, in the back with a knife, according to court documents and the District Attorney’s Office.
He also yelled “Allahu Akbar” during the attack, before fleeing the street, the DA added. Morales proceeded to walk past a synagogue on West 83rd Street and Central Park West and yelled, “Justice for Islam,” the DA’s Office said.
Then, at 1:43 p.m., 13 minutes after his first attack, he walked up to a 50-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippah, near a second synagogue at West 86th street and Amsterdam Avenue, and stabbed him in the chest with a screwdriver, according to the DA’S office.
A witness to the attack told Bragg’s office that he followed Morales as he fled to an apartment building near West 89th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, and heard him allegedly yell once more, “Allahu Akbar.”
The two victims were both rushed to nearby hospitals, where the first man arrived with the knife still lodged in his back, needing surgery to remove it, the DA’s office said. Both victims survived the attacks, police confirmed.
The DA’s office also said that during its investigation it “uncovered additional evidence illustrating alleged antisemitic bias,” specifically within Morales’ text messages recovered from his phone.
Morales, 51, was specifically charged with attempted murder in the second degree as a hate crime, assault in the first degree as a hate crime, attempted assault in the first degree as a hate crime, and assault in the second degree as a hate crime, according to the DA’s office.
“Raul Morales was allegedly motivated by antisemitism when he attacked two New Yorkers in broad daylight near two Upper West Side synagogues,” Bragg said in a news release. “Since the initial arrest, my Office has continued to thoroughly investigate this matter and uncovered additional evidence alleging the defendant specifically harbors antisemitic views.”
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