Knife-wielding maniac arrested for stabbing two people outside NYC synagogue while shouting 'Allahu Akbar' as Mamdani blasts 'hateful' attack

A New York City man is in custody after he allegedly stabbed two men outside a synagogue while yelling 'Allahu Akbar.'

Raul Morales, 51, was apprehended for the attack on Thursday afternoon shortly after police said he stabbed a 57-year-old man in the torso at around 1.30pm then struck a 50-year-old man outside an Orthodox synagogue near Central Park.

Both victims, an unidentified Asian man and a Jewish man, were then transported to Mt Sinai-St Luke's Hospital, where they are expected to survive, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Meanwhile, Morales was taken into custody at an apartment building a couple of blocks away from the scene of the stabbing spree after Tisch said a 'good Samaritan' led officers to where he was hiding. 

Detectives are still working to determine a motive for the attack, but according to victim and witness statements, 'Morales yelled "Allahu Akbar" during both attacks,' and officers are now investigating 'whether this is a potential hate crime,' Tisch wrote on social media.

Mental health may have also played a factor in the attack, Tisch said, adding that investigators have not yet found a 'link between Morales and either of the victims, nor between the victims and each other.'

As the investigation into the stabbings now continues, Mayor Zohran Mamdani asserted: 'These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city.'

He said he had been briefed on the incident and was 'relieved that both victims are in stable condition' as well as 'grateful to the officers for their swift response.'

The attack allegedly began when Morales jumped the first victim, a 57-year-old Asian man, near West 84th Street and Central Park West and stabbed him in the back at around 1.30pm, according to the New York Post.

The second victim, a 50-year-old man wearing a yarmulke, was then attacked after leaving a synagogue at Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street - and was said to have been stabbed in the torso with a screwdriver.

Morales then allegedly barricaded himself inside a New York City Housing Authority apartment a few blocks away, but was arrested at around 2.45pm.

Nava Silton, who had been speaking with the second victim inside the Jewish Center ahead of the attack, described how Morales 'tried to act like a normal person and that he wasn't involved, and muttering "Someone should call 911," literally pretending he was not culpable.' 

She also said the victim told her how 'someone drew a screwdriver into the right side of my chest.'

'It was serious, but he's speaking and he's conscious,' she told the Post, calling the victim 'an incredible person' who had been leaving Tisha B'av services when he was attacked. 

Marianna Ellenberg also recounted how she saw the wife of the first victim watch in horror as her husband was randomly knifed in the back. 

'We saw her covering her mouth. She was just scared,' Ellenberg said. 'Like it was a surreal image because it was a bright, sunny 1.30pm, Upper West Side, Central Park West day and there was just this cry.' 

Morris Dahan, a member of Manhattan Shomrim, a volunteer civilian watch group in Orthodox Jewish communities, also said it was 'unbelievable' how cops managed to pull Morales out of the apartment building.

'He was inside of an apartment and they went in there, 50, 60 cops with dogs, canine, sledgehammers, whatever they need to break in to doors. And sure enough, 15 minutes later, they came out with him.'

Charges were not immediately filed against Morales, who allegedly suffers from mental health issues and has at least two prior arrests - both for drug possession in 1991.

He had reportedly been seen about half an hour after officers responded to the first stabbing walking erratically and shouting incoherently - including yelling the word 'Islam.'

As questions about the attack now remain, some lawmakers decried the apparent random attack on Jewish residents.

'Disgusted by what appears to be another senseless attack on New Yorkers simply because they're Jewish,' New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted online.

'The strength of New York has always been our ability to live together across every faith and background,' she continued. 'Anyone who tries to tear that apart will be met with the full force of the law.

'New York will stand with our Jewish community today, tomorrow and always,' the governor then vowed. 

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin also called the attack an 'antisemitic stabbing,' and said: 'The fear in the Jewish community is real.

'Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, regardless of their faith or identity,' she asserted.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials accused Mayor Mamdani of fomenting antisemitism in the city, with Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa'ar saying the attack came after 'months of incitement against the State of Israel by Mamdani,' which he said 'helped create a reality in which Jews become targets.'

'Words have consequences,' he said. 'Mamdani must stop the incitement, stand firmly against antisemitism and act immediately to protect the Jewish community in the city.'

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, echoed those sentiments.

'Zohran Mamdani, your incitement is putting Jewish lives in danger in New York, home to the largest Jewish community outside Israel,' he said. 

'You have spent months fueling hatred, demonizing Israel and legitimizing hostility toward Jews. Now take responsibility for the consequences,' Danon continued, adding: 'Every time you pour more fuel on this fire, you make violence more likely.

'Stop the incitement,' he pleaded. 'Before more people get hurt.'