Police investigate crime linked to Salman Muflihi
Police in New York, New York allege that a man stabbed another man. Charges indicate this was a racist attack.
Salman Muflihi, 23, was charged Thursday with attempted murder as a hate crime and assault as a hate crime, according to NBC New York. The victim is Asian, and this incident follows a spate of such bias incidents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Muflihi was identified as the individual accused of running up to the victim in Chinatown, and stabbing him in the back. Video caught the incident, with the suspect running up behind the victim.
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The defendant is a Brooklyn man also accused of punching an Asian man in Brooklyn last month. The victim in the new incident was described as a 36-year-old man from Chinatown.
Muflihi is also charged with criminal possession of a weapon, and forgery because he allegedly possessed a fake driver’s license. He allegedly said during questioning that the incident was not motivated by race or ethnicity.
Mulifhi allegedly maintained that he did not like the way the man “looked at him,” according to WABC.
[Screengrab via WABC]