▶ Watch Video: Upper West Side double stabbing suspect appears in court
The suspect in Thursday’s double stabbing on New York City’s Upper West Side has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime, among other things.
The two stabbing victims come from two different communities that share a belief that something must change to keep people safe.
Charges in NYC double stabbing
Raul Morales, 51, has been charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and first-degree attempted assault, all as a hate crime, in the stabbing of Moshe Grunhaus, a 50-year-old Jewish man, police say.
For the stabbing attack on a 57-year-old Asian man, police say Morales has also been charged with a hate crime, as well as criminal possession of a weapon, attempted murder and assault.
Both victims are expected to survive.
Morales appeared in court late Friday night. After all the charges were read by the judge, he looked into the crowd inside the courtroom and said, “I love you, mama.” He was remanded and is due back in court on July 30.
Morales’ mother said she had no comment.
Investigation into Raul Morales
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch says the suspect allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks.
Morales lives in an apartment building not far from where the attacks took place. Law enforcement executed a search warrant there Friday, and investigators were seen carrying out a laptop and a bag of books, including the Quran and a book about Che Guevara.
It’s not clear if the items belong to Morales. We’re told Morales lived in the apartment with other people.
One neighbor of Morales’ told CBS News New York he never says a word to her, even when she says good morning.
Morales has no known mental health history with the NYPD, but Tisch says the initial investigation suggests mental health may have been a factor.
Police say Morales’ prior criminal history includes two open drug arrests in 1991 and five sealed arrests.
“I am 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,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement, in part. “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.”
The U.S. Department of Justice says its Civil Rights Division is also investigating the double stabbing.
“It can’t go on like this”
Rabbi Yosie Levine, of the Jewish Center, said he has known Grunhaus for the past decade, and that he is devoted to the Jewish community.
Levine said Grunhaus had been praying at his synagogue on Thursday moments before he was stabbed.
“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,” he said.
Dr. Nava Silton, who has known Grunhaus for over 20 years, said she had also just seen him at the synagogue.
“People told me, did you know that someone was just stabbed on the corner? And I said, what? And I ran out to check to see what was going on,” she said.
Levine and Silton both visited Grunhaus at the hospital, and Levine said he was released Friday afternoon.
“I was happy to see him. I was very relieved to see him alert and in relatively good spirits, all things considered,” Levine said. “He was surrounded by good friends and family.”
“He’s just a very grateful person, and I think despite this horrible thing happening to him, he chose to focus on how grateful he was to be alive,” Silton said.
“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.”
The rabbi said Grunhaus recently moved to Florida and was just back in town for a couple of days to tie up loose ends when this happened.
The second stabbing victim remains in the hospital but is doing well, according to a spokesperson for the Mount Sinai Health System.