According to media reports, the attacker first assaulted a 57-year-old Asian man near West 84th Street and Central Park West, stabbing him with a knife at around 1:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
A short time later, a 50-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippah was stabbed with a screwdriver as he left the Jewish Center, a Modern Orthodox synagogue located at West 86th Street and Central Park West.<\/p>\n
At around 2:45 p.m., the 51-year-old suspect, identified as Raul Morales, was arrested by police after barricading himself in an apartment on Amsterdam Avenue near West 88th Street.<\/p>\n
Both victims were transported to Saint Luke\u2019s Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.<\/p>\n
Morales shouted \u201cAllahu akbar\u201d (Arabic for \u201cGod is greatest\u201d) during the rampage, New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch\u00a0said<\/a>. Police were examining whether the attack was a hate crime.<\/p>\n The incident occurred as Jews across the globe marked Tisha B\u2019Av, a fasting day mourning tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people over history, including the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n It also came just two days after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> drew widespread Jewish communal condemnation for a\u00a0video message<\/a>\u00a0in which re-amplified libelous war crimes claims against Israel and condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the \u201carchitect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people\u201d who was \u201cnot welcome in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n