The loads are increasing. The man accused of stabbing several people in a rabbi's house near New York on December 28 was charged on Friday with new charges, the local prosecutor said. Grafton Thomas, 37, is the subject of six counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault, three other counts of attempted assault, and two counts of burglary. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
These charges suggest that he assaulted at least six people when initially the police spoke of five injured and hospitalized people. One of the injured, 72-year-old Josef Neumann, who was hit in the head, is still in critical condition. His family have expressed concern that he will not get out.
Author of another anti-Semitic attack?
Grafton Thomas is accused of having entered the home of a rabbi on Saturday evening, armed with a large knife, and of having beaten several of the many people who came to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. He was also charged with five federal charges for "hate crimes". This category of offenses includes people targeted for their ethnicity, religion, gender or disability. According to US media reports, police are also investigating the possibility of another knife attack on an Orthodox Jew on November 20 in Ramapo, also in Rockland County.
Grafton Thomas pleaded not guilty when he appeared for the first time on December 29. His family and lawyer said he was mentally ill and had been hospitalized several times. The attack on Monsey, where a large Orthodox Jewish community lives, has heightened the fears of American Jews, who have faced an increasing number of anti-Semitic acts in recent years, particularly in the New York area.
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