Upper West Side stabbing suspect faces hate crime attempted murder charge
Police say Raul Morales is charged with attempted murder as a hate crime after two men were stabbed on the Upper West Side.
By Frankie Delgado · News Reporter
3 min read
A suspect in an Upper West Side stabbing hate crime case is now facing attempted murder and assault charges after two men were attacked Thursday in New York City, police told CBS News New York.
Police identified the suspect as Raul Morales, 51. Authorities said the hate crime counts apply to the attack on Moshe Grunhaus, a 50-year-old Jewish man.
In that case, police said Morales has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime, assault as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon. For the stabbing of a 57-year-old Asian man, police said Morales has also been charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, but those charges were not filed as hate crimes.
Both victims are expected to survive, according to CBS News New York.
What are the charges in the Upper West Side stabbing?
Police said Morales faces hate crime charges tied to the attack on Grunhaus, while the charges connected to the 57-year-old Asian victim do not carry a hate crime designation. The distinction means investigators are alleging a bias motive in one attack, based on the charges described by police.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the suspect allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks. The phrase is Arabic for “God is great” and is commonly used by Muslims in prayer and everyday speech.
Authorities said Morales barricaded himself inside a nearby apartment after the stabbings. CBS News New York reported that detectives were seen at that building Friday carrying out evidence bags containing books, including a Che Guevara book and the Quran.
Tisch said Morales had no known mental health history with the NYPD, while adding that the early investigation suggests mental health may have played a role. No reported comment from Morales or an attorney was included in CBS News New York’s account.
Rabbi says victim had just left synagogue
Rabbi Yosie Levine of the Jewish Center said he has known Grunhaus for about 10 years and described him as devoted to the Jewish community.
Levine said Grunhaus had spent Thursday morning and early afternoon praying at his synagogue, then left around 1:30 p.m. shortly before he was stabbed about 200 feet away.
“Moshe had just gotten up to leave at around 1:30 after having spent the whole morning and beginning of the afternoon with us, and for this to happen 200 feet from our synagogue is just, it's almost hard to believe,” Levine told CBS News New York.
The rabbi said he visited Grunhaus in the hospital Friday morning and found him alert, surrounded by friends and family, and in relatively good spirits given what had happened.
Levine also said the attack was unlike anything he had dealt with in more than two decades serving the community.
“I would say in the 22 years that I've been serving as a rabbi in this community, I never visited with a stab victim in the hospital, and I never visited with a victim of a hate crime in the hospital,” Levine said. “There's a real person whose whole life is turned upside down because of this. It can't go on like this. It's intolerable.”
According to Levine, Grunhaus had recently moved to Florida and had returned to New York for a few days to finish personal business when the attack happened.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.