YWN IS LIVE BLOGGING THE LATEST UPDATES FOLLOWING THE MONSEY STABBING ATTACK AT RABBI ROTTENBERG’S SHUL.

SCROLL DOWN FOR EARLIER UPDATES.

REACAP: A knife-wielding man stormed into the Monsey home of the Kossoner Rebbe (Rabbi Rottenberg) and stabbed five people as they celebrated Chanukah, an ambush the governor said Sunday was an act of domestic terrorism fueled by intolerance and a “cancer” of growing hatred in America.

Police tracked a fleeing suspect to Manhattan and made an arrest within hours of the attack Saturday night in Monsey. Grafton E. Thomas had blood all over his clothing and smelled of bleach when officers stopped him, prosecutors said.

Thomas, 37, was arraigned Sunday and pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Bail was set at $5 million and he remains jailed.

UPDATE 6:35PM: The suspect sccused of going on a stabbing rampage in Monsey is “not a terrorist” – he’s just “mentally ill”. This is according to family which spoke to the NY Post.

Grafton Thimas- is “not a violent person,” according to his pastor of 10 years, Reverend Wendy Paige of the Hudson Highlands Cooperative Parish.

“Grafton is not a terrorist, he is a man who has mental illness in America and the systems that be have not served him well,” Paige said.

“I have been his pastor for a long time and I have seen him, he is not a violent person, he is a confused person.”

–@YWN via NY PostNY Post

UPDATE 3:45PM: Authorities are investigating whether Grafton Thomas, the man charged in a machete attack in Monsey last night, is tied to the recent brutal assault and stabbing in Monsey that has been unsolved. In that stabbing, a 29-year-old Mordechai Schlesinger was stabbed as he walked to Shul early one morning.

UPDATE 3:00PM: There is a Hachnosos Sefer Torah going to Scheiner’s Shul in Monsey, and stopped by Rabbi Rottenberg’s house in Forshay – as dozens of nations media outlets filmed the event.

UPDATE 1:35PM: NYS Senator Simcha Felder, Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, Councilman Chaim Deutsch, Councilman Kalman Yeger just sent this letter to NY Governor Cuomo moments ago.

UPDATE 1:30PM: A highly credible law-enforcement source tells YWN that the Monsey stabbing attack suspect ,Thomas E. Grafton, is a RECENT MUSLIM CONVERT.

UPDATE 11:49: Famed Saudi Arabian blogger and Twitter influencer Muhammad Saud sends a message in YIDDISH to Jews in NY following last night’s attack in Monsey. Saud sent his message via video.

UPDATE 11:25AM – CHILLING EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT: Yosef Eli Glick saved many lives last night. Watch this chilling firsthand account of the horror that went on at the home of Rabbi Rottenberg in Monsey during last nights stabbing attack.

UPDATE 10:00AM: The suspect in the Monsey has been named as Thomas E. Grafton, 37, of Greenwood Lake, NY, which is about 20 miles away from Monsey in Orange County.

He was apprehended with “blood all over him.”

Some media outlets reported the suspect’s name as Thomas Grafton or Thomas E. Grafton, but public records reveal it to be Grafton E. Thomas.

He was arraigned Sunday afternoon in Ramapo town court on five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Justice Rhoda Schoenberger ordered Thomas held on $5 million bail, Ramapo Town Supervisor Michael Specht tweeted. Schoenberger ordered Thomas to return to court January 3.

Thomas pleaded not guilty to all five counts of murder and the one count of burglary. Bail is set to $5 million. He will return to Ramapo Town Court Friday, Jan. 3 at noon.

Law-enforcement sources say Grafton has several previous arrests on his record, including one for punching a police horse.

Public records show that Thomas lives in a house on Lake Drive that has been owned by a relative since 2001. He previously lived in Brooklyn, New York, records show.

Last night, a keen eye & quick response by @NYPD32Pct cops led to the apprehension of a suspect wanted in connection with the horrific attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey. Outstanding work by Officers Radziwon & Mattera. pic.twitter.com/yyZ6sZEOsS — Commissioner Shea (@NYPDShea) December 29, 2019

[CHANUKAH ATTACK IN MONSEY: Black Man Arrested In Harlem After Stabbing 5 With Machete At Shul [UPDATED 5:15AM]

[WATCH: NY Gov Cuomo Visits Rabbi Rottenberg’s House – BUT HE JUST SIGNED BAIL REFORM!]

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