HATE ATTACK IN NEW YORK, ATTACKER SHOUTED "ALLAHU AKBAR"

NEW YORK, JULY 24 /SRNA/ - The attacker stabbed two men in New York while shouting "Allahu Akbar"; one of the victims was attacked after leaving a synagogue, police said.

The suspect, 51-year-old Raul Morales, was arrested shortly after the attack, and investigators are determining whether the motive was a hate crime or whether the attacks were linked to his mental state, the New York Post reported.

According to police, a 57-year-old man of Asian descent was stabbed in the back, while another 50-year-old man was attacked after leaving a synagogue. He was stabbed in the torso area with a screwdriver.

Morales was arrested after barricading himself inside an apartment in a residential complex, several blocks from the scene of the attack. Police said that a knife and a screwdriver were found after his arrest.

Morales had no previously recorded history of mental health issues in police records, but he had been arrested for drug possession.

Governor Kathy Hochul has said that what happened appears to be "another senseless attack on New Yorkers simply because they are Jewish," and City Council President Julie Menin said she was "horrified and outraged by what appears to be an antisemitic attack".

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he had been briefed on the "terrifying attacks."