By Gus Saltonstall
Two men were stabbed Thursday afternoon on the Upper West Side in possible hate crimes, a police spokesperson told West Side Rag.
Chok Sung, 57, and Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, 50, were stabbed around 2:30 p.m. in the vicinity of West 84th Street and Central Park West, police said. Both men were taken to a local hospital in stable condition, NYPD added.
The police spokesperson said Raul Morales, 51, was taken into custody in connection with the stabbing. The suspect was apprehended after barricading himself inside a building at Amsterdam Avenue and West 88th Street, police said.
The first attack took place near West 84th Street and Central Park West, when the attacker stabbed Sung, an Asian man, in the torso with a knife, according to NYPD and the New York Times. The suspect then walked toward Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street and stabbed Grunhaus, a Jewish man, with a screwdriver, the New York Times reported.
Shortly before the attack, Grunhaus had been at the nearby Jewish Center on West 86th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus, for Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning, the New York Times reported.
Morales yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch wrote in a message on social media, while citing victims and witness statements.
“The NYPD is currently evaluating whether this is a potential hate crime,” Tisch continued in her statement. “While the perpetrator has no known mental health history with the NYPD, the initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor.”
This afternoon, two people were stabbed in separate attacks on the Upper West Side. Both victims — an Asian male and a Jewish male — were removed to Mt. Sinai-St. Luke’s Hospital, and both are expected to survive.
The NYPD has arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales in connection…
— Jessica S. Tisch (@NYPDPC) July 23, 2026
CBS reported that Morales has seven prior arrests.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin also released the following statement Thursday afternoon about the Upper West Side stabbings on social media.
I am absolutely sickened and furious by what appears to be an antisemitic stabbing on the Upper West Side.
While we await additional details to be confirmed, we know that what is happening in our city is abhorrent. The fear in the Jewish community is real. Every New Yorker…
— Speaker Julie Menin (@SpeakerMenin) July 23, 2026
In his own statement on Thursday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the Upper West Side attacks “horrifying.”
This is a developing story, please check back in for details.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Very nice. We need state run mental hospitals again. Just prescribing meds and letting the violent mentally ill into the general population is a failed experiment. They need to be institutionalized for everyone’s safety.
Who’s prescribing medicine, or making sure anyone who needs it has it? That would be a great starting point
I agree. I wrote an earlier comment with elaboration, but WSR did not print it.
Certainly sounds like a better use of money than city-run grocery stores.
Where were the violence interrupters? Believe it or not, they are an official part of NYC’s crisis management system. Has anyone here ever seen them?
They were on a break.
Interesting that this was labeled anti-semitic. Our wonderful mayor is not helping the situation. Several very prominent Jewish leaders who tend to try really hard to stay out of politics have recently publicly condoned his comments.
When Mamdani ran for mayor, his Kool-Aid drinking supporters whined that he should not be judged for his views on Israel since that is not in his purview as mayor. Yet now he is using his platform to do that.
He is increasingly reminding me of Trump. It is very scary.
Mamdani is merely accurately stating the findings of the UN and ICC on Israel’s conduct. He does so while consistently stating that violence against Jews is unacceptable & have no place in our city. Both are true!
It’s clear that organizations who have preexisting disagreements with the mayor are just cynically blaming him for the behavior of a mentally ill man.
Yes, very interesting that both Trump and the mayor’s first instinct is that they have the power to arrest anyone for whatever they feel like. Ever heard of the legal system.
Mamdani concluded that he did not have the right to arrest Netanyahu, so yes, he’s abiding by the legal system. Trump, not so much
Arresting Netanyahu was a campaign promise that he knew wasn’t deliverable. Just like many of his other campaign promises that will never happen
The damage was already done – his first statement made headlines, his retraction did not. And he knows this.
He should be judged for his views on Israel which are admirable views – he’s the only one standing up to Netanyahu.
I am the other Emma. I did not write this and don’t want it attributed to me. I wish WSR would not permit same name IDs. I would alter mine if this Emma signed up first but I use my name on line many places and this is the only one where it is duplicated.
Why should he be commenting on Israel? He should be commenting on the potholes, the lack of healthcare for too many New Yorkers, and he should be paying attention to the fiscal state of the city. That’s how he should be spending his time. Israel is not one of the boroughs in New York City
Emma – i would hope to hear words today like –
I wish these two victims recover from their stab wounds.
Instead of attacking Israel.
Just for the record, the mayor has never mentioned October 7.
Literally yesterday he called what happened on Oct. 7 a war crime. You can criticize him without spreading misinformation.
That’s not his job. His job is to run NYC. Not engage in foreign policy. And to make it a safe place for all of its residents, including its very large Jewish population. And he is doing a lousy job of his core job.
He is a child. And he is behaving like one. Some of his aides need to help him grow up.
He is NOT standing up to Netanyahu. It is just pathetic political theater. The people who are actually standing up to Netanyahu are – wait for it… The Israeli Public! Our Mayor is not only not doing anything that has any actual meaning regarding Israel, especially considering he doesn’t have the power to even do anything meaningful regarding another country, but the things he says and does are making things worse for Jews in NY and the US. I agree with Leon. My first thought was that Mamdani was only talking about the Asian victim and he wouldn’t make a comment about the other victim until he first found out whether the victim was an ‘as-a-Jew’ or not.
What led people to believe this was antisemitism?
Did you read the article before commenting?
He allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” before the attacks
He yelled “allah akbar” before attacking
Thank you, NYPD!
Folks, with all my heart, i accept everyone for who they are. I so believe in live and let live. I just have this feeling that the Mayor that the people of New York elected, in a fair and just election, does not have it in his heart to protect Jewish New Yorkers. It’s just my opinion. it’s a gut feeling. I did not vote for him, but humbly accepted his victory. I am honestly afraid of what the future may hold, especially for Jewish NYers.
Whatever you think about Mamdani’s views on Zionism and the way he expresses them, he appointed Jessica Tisch, an avowed Jewish supporter of Israel and a highly qualified professional, to be his police commissioner. Mamdani repeatedly expresses his commitment to protecting Jews and other minorities, and has stood beside Tisch, literally and figuratively, in her efforts to do so.
The other victim?? Anyone thinking about him?
I’m not Jewish but I feel the same.
At the risk of stating the obvious, ANYONE could yell “Allahu Akbar” during an attack in order to make it SEEM like it is being done by a Muslim – particularly in the current political climate. Morales is a common Latino name, and Latinos are not generally Muslim. I find this quite suspect.
Adding to your argument, one of his victims was Asian. There’s more going on here than anti-semitism.
Is Chok Sung Jewish? Why isn’t there much if any discourse about an anti-Asian stabbing?
It’s being investigated as a hate crime. That would include an anti-Asian stabbing.
It’s not being reported on as that. Anti-asian hate is a real problem in this country
Healing thoughts also go out to Mr. Chok Sung.
A big thank you to the quick thinking staff at 239 Central Park West, who stayed with the victim and radio’ed the resident manager who immediately pulled CCTV footage, providing NYPD with an image of the perpetrator when they arrived on scene.
Wishing quick recoveries to both victims of the attack. Thank you NYPD for your good work on this incident. Thank you good neighbors who helped in this incident.
Wishing the mayor would do his job, stop his theatrics playing to his most extreme supporters, stop his aggressive rhetoric, stop using his hate of Israel to cover up his lack of success (a la Trump’s distractions) and actually do the job he was elected to do without putting any group of New Yorkers at greater risk. .
I don’t know what exactly motivated the perpetrator to commit this horrible crime, but I have to say that there’s definitely a lot of street anger that is fanned by our mayor’s rhetoric. I’m not Jewish.
The politicians are on this like flies on a garbage can.
And CB 7 continues to insist on adding as many supportive housing beds to our neighborhood as possible. The members of the community board seem to want regular residents to be prey..
Why is no one speaking up for the Asian man who was attacked? The Asian community has come under attack as well as the Jewish community.
The danger of Anti-Asian hate in New York City is being ignored by Spectrum News, network news and all of the NYC official leadership despite the fact that the first stabbing victim yesterday was an Asian American man who was knifed in the back on Central Park West.