NYC Jihadi Stabber Indicted on Hate Crime Charges

NEW YORK — A Manhattan grand jury has indicted the man accused of carrying out a violent stabbing spree on Manhattan’s Upper West Side while shouting “Allahu Akbar”, prosecutors announced Thursday.

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Raul Morales, 51, now faces hate crime charges in connection with both attacks that occurred on July 23. According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Morales is accused of targeting two strangers in separate incidents only minutes apart.

Prosecutors allege Morales first attacked a 57-year-old Asian man from behind near West 84th Street and Central Park West, stabbing him in the back while repeatedly shouting, “Allahu Akbar.”

Authorities say Morales then continued north, passing a synagogue while allegedly yelling “Justice for Islam” and again shouting “Allahu Akbar” before encountering 50-year-old Moshe Yitzchak Grunhaus, an Orthodox Jewish man wearing a kippah, near the Jewish Center several blocks away where he was headed for Tisha B’Av services. Ironically, JBN has learnt that hat Grunhaus had already moved to Florida and was just briefly in NYC to finish packing.

According to court documents, Morales allegedly stabbed Grunhaus in the chest with a screwdriver. Witnesses told investigators he continued shouting “Justice for Islam’s and “Allahu Akbar” during the assault.

Police arrested Morales less than an hour later at his NYCHA apartment on Amsterdam Avenue after he allegedly barricaded himself inside.

During Thursday’s court proceeding, supporters of Grunhaus gathered outside the courthouse to show solidarity. A family friend said that he continues to recover from his injuries.

“He’s working hard on healing, and he has good people supporting him in that endeavor,” his friend said.

Morales remains in custody on Rikers Island. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the grand jury indictment on September 22 before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Althea Drysdale, when the full indictment will be formally presented.

Initially, prosecutors filed hate crime charges only in connection with the attack on the Jewish victim. Following further investigation, the case was expanded to include hate crime allegations for both stabbings.

Morales is currently charged with two counts of attempted murder as a hate crime, along with additional assault-related offenses carrying hate crime enhancements. If convicted on the top charges, he could face up to 40 years in prison, with consecutive sentences possible under New York law.