Salman Muflihi pulled a 8-inch knife and stabbed his 36-year-old victim as he walked down Worth Street next to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse around 6:20 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.
Muflihi ran to a guard outside the nearby Manhattan district attorney’s office building on Hogan Place and said to the guard, “I just stabbed someone. Where are the police? ‘
He told the detectives that he stabbed the victim “because he didn’t like the way he looked at him.”
Muflihi is charged with second-degree attempted murder as a hate crime, assault, forgery and criminal possession of weapons.
The stabbing was not initially considered a biased assault, but the charges were added after police found that the suspect hit another Asian person in the head in Brooklyn in January.
The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.
He was reportedly walking home at the time of the attack.
Muflihi has had three previous arrests for sexual assaults, and authorities say he appeared emotionally disturbed.
Community members said they were outraged and angry after the latest attack on an Asian New Yorker.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials spoke earlier this week about the city’s renewed efforts to tackle hate crimes against Asians.
“Every community has suffered, but there has been a certain pain, some terrible challenge that the Asian-American community faces,” said de Blasio. “Because in addition to all the suffering of the coronavirus itself, in addition to the loss of loved ones and the loss of businesses, people have faced terrible discrimination and hatred.”
The Asian Hate Crime Task Force is targeting the entire city, but will pay particular attention to the subways following an outbreak of incidents in the transit system.
Community leaders say the incident is just another reason why the task force should be funded and staffed with full-time officers.
“You have to be able to give them the resources they need to focus on solving the problem,” said community attorney Jenny Low. “I believe they have very good agents who are well trained for this. But a volunteer performance is still a volunteer performance.”
RELATED | Mayor de Blasio says Asian Hate Crime Task Force is working to fight many biased crimes in NYC
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