An Asian man stabbed in an unprovoked attack in Chinatown, Manhattan.
The 36-year-old victim was walking outside the federal courthouse when the attack occurred at 630pm on Thursday.
CCTV footage shows the suspect approaching the victim from behind and stabbing him in the back. The incident was seemingly unprovoked.
Democratic District Leader Jenny Low went to the scene, witnessing blood stains on the ground. Police recovered a large knife at the scene.
“Outrageous isn’t even the right word because we have been seeing so many more attacks on Asians,” Low said.
The victim remains in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital.
23-year-old Brooklyn man Salman Muflihi has been charged with attempted criminally negligent homicide, assault, forgery and criminal possession of a weapon, after he turned himself in later the same night.
NYPD’s Hate Crimes Unit was initially alerted to the incident but is no longer involved after Muflihi said the attack was not race-related.
The incident follows a series of recent attacks on Asian Americans, including an Asian woman who had her car stolen after being attacked on Chinese New Year in Oakland.
In another attack, a 70-year-old grandmother who was knocked to the ground and robbed on her way home from the bank.
Prior to that attack, a 91-year-old man in the city was pushed to the ground by an attacker who was already out on bail.
Two elderly Asian women were also attacked on the New York Subway in two separate events.
Most recently, a Chinese pizzeria owner was brutally attacked and robbed by a group of men in Pennsylvania.
In other news, a Filipino American navy veteran has died after police knelt on his neck for almost five minutes.
