NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A man was stabbed in the back in an unprovoked attack in Chinatown on Thursday night, police said, and his alleged attacker faces hate crime charges.
The victim, a 36-year-old Asian man, was walking in front of the federal courthouse near Worth Street and Baxter Street around 6:30 p.m. when another man ran up from behind and stabbed him in the back with a knife, police said.
The alleged attacker then walked to the Manhattan District Attorney's office building on Hogan Place and told workers he had stabbed someone, according to police.
Police said Salman Muflihi, a 23-year-old man from Bensonhurst, was taken into custody. He has three prior arrests.
Muflihi told police that “he didn’t like the way the victim was looking at him,” according to the NYPD.
Police initially said the attack appeared to be random and that it wasn't being investigated as a hate crime. However, hate crime charges were added later on Friday, according to the Daily News.
Muflihi was charged with attempted murder as a hate crime and assault as a hate crime. He also faces charges of forgery and criminal possession of a weapon.
Muflihi was arrested last month for allegedly punching an Asian man in the head in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, according to the Daily News. That's what led police to upgrade the charges to hate crimes on Friday, WABC reported.
The victim in the Chinatown stabbing was in critical but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital after surgery overnight, police said.
Even as police said Friday morning that they didn't believe the stabbing was a hate crime, residents voiced concerns that it was, noting attacks on Asian Americans in the city and nationwide.
Jenny Low, the Democratic district leader in Chinatown, was at the scene of the attack Thursday night. She told WCBS-TV, “This is very upsetting.”
“We have been seeing so many more attacks on Asians,” she said. “This is a hate crime. I don’t care how you say it.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the stabbing at a coronavirus briefing on Friday.
"Even as we’re sounding the alarm and calling for people to band together to stop hate, we had a horrible incident yesterday, a horrible act of violence against an Asian-American man—out of nowhere, just pure hatred," the mayor said. "The suspect has been apprehended, but we’re hoping and praying for this man as he fights for his life."
De Blasio said a rally against anti-Asian hate crimes will be held at Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan on Saturday. He invited people to join him there at 1 p.m.