Upper West Side double stabbing suspect facing hate crime charges

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 attempted murder as a hate crime, assault as a hate crime, and criminal possession of a weapon for stabbing 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 criminal possession of a weapon, along with attempted murder and assault – but not as a hate crime for this instance.

Both victims are expected to survive.

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.

“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 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.

Levine visited Grunhaus at the hospital Friday morning.

“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 added, “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 … 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 days to tie up loose ends when this happened.