It was domestic terrorism, New York governor says

New York’s governor said a knife attack by an assailant who burst into a party at a Hasidic rabbi’s home and stabbed five people late on Saturday was an act of domestic terrorism.

Visiting the scene in Rockland County, about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City, Governor Andrew Cuomo met on Sunday with victims who had been attending the Hanukkah celebration at the home of rabbi Chaim Rottenberg. “This is terrorism, it is domestic terrorism,” Cuomo told reporters.

“These are people who intend to create mass harm, mass violence, generate fear based on race, color, creed.” The suspect was identified by police as a local man from Greenwood Lake, New York. Authorities said he was arrested in New York City’s Manhattan borough after fleeing the site of the attack in the small town of Monsey by car.

Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel said at a news conference that the suspect will be arraigned later on Sunday on five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary.

According to Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, the attacker had his face partially covered with a scarf when he stabbed five people, two of whom were in critical condition. “One of the rabbi’s children were also stabbed,” Gestetner told reporters.