Manhattan DA indicts Raul Morales on hate-crime charges for July 23 stabbings

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office secured an indictment against Raul Morales, a 51-year-old Upper West Side resident, for two hate-crime attacks carried out on July 23. According to prosecutors, Morales first approached a 57-year-old Asian man from behind near West 84th Street, shouted “Allahu Akbar,” and stabbed him in the back. He then walked past a synagogue, continued chanting, and four blocks later stabbed Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, a 50-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippah, near the Jewish Center.

Police arrested Morales within an hour at his NYCHA apartment on Amsterdam Avenue, where he had barricaded himself. He remains detained on Rikers Island and will be arraigned on September 22 before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Althea Drysdale, where the specific charges will be disclosed. Morales now faces two counts of second-degree attempted murder as hate crimes, plus assault charges with hate-crime enhancements, carrying a potential sentence of up to 40 years. Approximately 20 supporters of Grunhaus, including close friend Nava Silton, attended the brief hearing, expressing hopes for his gradual recovery.