Overview
- Two men were stabbed minutes apart on the Upper West Side and rushed to Mount Sinai on Thursday, July 23, and both are expected to survive.
- Police arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales after he barricaded himself in a nearby apartment building and negotiators from the NYPD Emergency Service Unit took him into custody.
- Victims and witnesses reported the attacker shouted the Arabic phrase 'Allahu Akbar' during both assaults and investigators are reviewing those statements as part of a possible hate-crime inquiry.
- Officers recovered a knife and a screwdriver that investigators say were used in the separate attacks and have found no known link between the suspect and the victims.
- City leaders and community groups condemned the violence as investigators from the Hate Crimes Task Force and local detectives continue evidence collection and questioning, with charges and motive still pending.