Suspect arrested after allegedly stabbing 2 men while screaming 'Alluha Akbar' on streets of New York City

Raul Morales.

Two men were hospitalized on Thursday afternoon after being stabbed by an attacker yelling "Allahu Akbar" on the streets of Manhattan's Upper West Side.  Police arrested 51-year-old suspect, and the NYPD is evaluating whether the attack was a hate crime.

According to The New York Post, Raul Morales approached a 57-year-old Asian man from behind on West 84th Street and stabbed him in the back while screaming the Islamic phrase, which translates to "God is the Greatest," witnesses of the crime told investigators. Not long after, police and witnesses say, Morales stabbed a 50-year-old Jewish man who was wearing a yarmulke as he left a synagogue a few blocks away. 

Both victims were transported to nearby hospitals and were expected to survive, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a post on X Thursday evening. "Detectives are continuing to work the case and determine motive, but according to victim and witness statements, Morales yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks," Tisch said. "The NYPD is currently evaluating whether this is a potential hate crime."

The commissioner also said that Morales "has no known mental health history," but detectives were also investigating whether a mental health episode may have played a role in the brutal attack. She praised the "bravery of a good Samaritan who led our officers to the location where the perpetrator was hiding."

Video from the scene of the arrest showed police leading Morales away in handcuffs. According to WABC, police are investigating whether Morales used a knife and a screwdriver, which were found at the scene, to carry out the attack. 

“The perpetrator tried to act like a normal person and that he wasn’t involved and muttering someone should call 911. Literally pretending he was not culpable,” one witness who spoke with the victim attacked outside of the synagogue told The New York Post. The witness added that the victim told her “someone drove a screwdriver into the right side of his chest."

Morales' rap sheet includes two drug arrests from 1991 and several other arrests that are sealed, WABC reported. Charges in this case are pending as the investigation continues.

The brazen broad daylight attack comes as the city's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has recently been escalating rhetoric toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Mamdani threatened to have arrested when he visits New York City later this year. Mamdani backed off the threat days later, but called Netanyahu a war criminal and called on the federal government to arrest the prime minister.

Mamdani issued a carefully crafted statement on X acknowledging the suspect's use of the phrase "Allahu Akbar" during the attacks. The mayor, however, seemed to play up the angle that a mental breakdown may have played a role in the attack while acknowledging the possibility of a hate crime. "These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city," he said.

The UJA-Federation of New York put out a statement on X Thursday evening linking Mamdani's rhetoric to the stabbings. "These attacks came soon after Mayor Mamdani once again used his official platform to viciously attack Israel, the only Jewish state," the group said. "We cannot ignore the dangerous climate created when elected leaders relentlessly portray Israel -- and, by extension, the many Jewish New Yorkers who feel a deep connection to it -- as uniquely evil and illegitimate." Read the UJA-Federation of New York's full statement below.