Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced a hate crime indictment against 51-year-old Raul Morales on Tuesday, following an investigation into a pair of unprovoked daytime stabbings on the Upper West Side.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the attacks took place in broad daylight on July 23, near synagogues. Prosecutors stated that Morales first approached a 57-year-old man from behind, near West 84th Street and Central Park West, stabbing him in the back with a knife while shouting “Allahu Akbar” and other expressions.
Minutes later, near a second synagogue close to West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, Morales allegedly attacked a 50-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippah, stabbing him in the chest with a screwdriver.
Both victims survived the assaults after being rushed to the hospital, with the first victim requiring emergency surgery to remove a knife still lodged in his back. Responding police officers tracked Morales to his nearby apartment, where he eventually surrendered. Subsequent search warrants executed on his phone uncovered text messages containing explicit antisemitic sentiments, reinforcing the bias motivation behind the assaults.
“Raul Morales was allegedly motivated by antisemitism when he attacked two New Yorkers in broad daylight near two Upper West Side synagogues,” Bragg said in a statement.
“Since the initial arrest, my office has continued to thoroughly investigate this matter and has uncovered additional evidence alleging the defendant specifically harbors antisemitic views. This case is a prime example of how hate crimes make all of us less safe.”
“As alleged, Raul Morales violently assaulted two innocent New Yorkers for no other reason than his belief they were Jewish,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Tisch: NYPD 'responded quickly,' will continue to fight 'hate crimes of any kind'
“The members of the NYPD responded quickly, identified the suspect, and took him into custody that same afternoon. That is what the NYPD has done, and will continue to do, in response to antisemitic hate crimes and hate crimes of any kind,” she added.
Morales faces a multi-count indictment, including charges of attempted murder in the second degree as a hate crime; assault in the first degree as a hate crime; attempted assault in the first degree as a hate crime; and assault in the second degree as a hate crime.