At about 10 p.m. on Saturday, just as the Rabbi Chaim Rotterberg was about to light the Hanukkah candles inside his Monsey home, an intruder allegedly stormed into the party and began slashing people, say police.
The suspect, Grafton Thomas, 37, allegedlypulled out a knife that was “almost like a broomstick,”Aron Kohn, 65, who attended the celebration, told CNN.
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“I saw him stabbing people,”Kohn said, ABC News reports. “He injured a guy, he was bleeding [from his neck], he was bleeding in his hand, all over.”
Shortly after the attack, police arrested Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake, who fled the scene in his car and was apprehended in Harlem,The New York Timesreports.
Thomas had “blood all over him” when he was pulled over, a law enforcement source told CNN.
He was turned over to authorities in Rockland County.
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Thomas has been charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary, PEOPLE confirms.
It is unclear whether Thomas has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf. He pleaded not guilty to all charges, theAssociated Pressreported. Bail was set at $5 million.
The victims, all Hasidic Jews, were taken to local hospitals. Two victims are in critical condition, CNN reports.
One of the victims is the rabbi’s son.
The stabbing is the latest anti-Semitic attack to hit the New York City area in two weeks.
Calling the attack an “act of domestic terrorism,” Governor Andrew Cuomoordered the State Police hate crimes task forceto investigate the stabbings,The New York Timesreports.
source: people.com
