2 stabbed in broad daylight in New York City

Both stabbing victims are expected to survive, officials said.

A man is facing hate crime charges after allegedly stabbing two people in broad daylight in Manhattan's residential Upper West Side neighborhood, authorities said.

Raul Morales, 51, has been charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault as a hate crime, second-degree assault as a hate crime and attempted first-degree assault as a hate crime.

Morales allegedly attacked two men on the Upper West Side on Thursday.

First, a 57-year-old Asian man was stabbed in the torso near West 84th Street and Central Park West, police said. The second victim, a 50-year-old Jewish man, had just stepped outside a synagogue near West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue when he was stabbed in the chest with a screwdriver, officials said.

The suspect yelled "Allahu Akbar" during both attacks, according to the victims and witnesses, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thursday, as she noted that the NYPD was evaluating whether it was a potential hate crime.

Both victims were taken to the hospital in stable condition and are expected to survive, according to Tisch.

There was no known link between Morales and either of the victims, nor between the victims and each other, according to Tisch.

The initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor, the commissioner said. The suspect has no known mental health history with the NYPD, police said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the stabbings "horrifying." Following the charging announcement, the mayor said he is "thankful that [Morales] is being held accountable and hope he will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"This kind of despicable violence is not who we are as a city," Mamdani said in a statement. "Every New Yorker deserves to be safe, regardless of their religion or race. Our administration will always stand against bigotry and do everything in our power to root out antisemitism, racism, and hateful acts of all kinds."

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