5 stabbed at rabbi's Hanukkah celebration by intruder with machete-type knife originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Five members of an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish congregation were stabbed on Saturday night by a man wielding a machete-type knife who barged into a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi's home in a New York City suburb and attacked victims at random, police and witnesses said.

The frenzied violence unfolded just before 10 p.m. in Rockland County as up to 100 people were gathered in Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's home in Monsey for a candle-lighting ceremony to commemorate the seventh night of Hanukkah.

While a motive is still being investigated, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the incident as "an act of domestic terrorism."

PHOTO: A man stands outside the home of rabbi, Chaim Rottenberg in Monsey, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2019, after an attack that took place earlier outside the rabbi's home during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. (Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images) More

Cuomo directed the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate the latest in a "disturbing" string of at least 13 anti-Semitic attacks in the New York-New Jersey region, including nine in New York City.

"It's important for me to express to the rabbi and for all of the people of New York that intolerance meets ignorances, meets illegality. We see anger. We see hatred exploding. It's an American cancer in the body politic," Cuomo said during a visit Sunday morning to Monsey, a predominantly Orthodox Jewish community about 30 miles north of New York City.

The victims injured in the attack were being treated at area hospitals, included one man who is in critical condition with a skull fracture, officials said.

The suspect, who authorities identified as 38-year-old Grafton Thomas, sped away in a gray 2015 Nissan Sentra, which was later located in Harlem, police said.

Thomas, who is from Greenwood Lake, New York, was arrested in New York City on Sunday morning after officers stopped him and noticed blood on his clothes and the smell of bleach, officials said.

Thomas is now charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary, police said. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Sunday morning and is being held on $5 million bond at the Rockland County Jail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 3.

PHOTO: Suspect in Hanukkah celebration stabbings Thomas Grafton, leaves the Ramapo Town Hall in Ramapo Town Hall in Airmont, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2019. (Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images) More

Aron Kohn, one of those attending Rabbi Rottenberg's Hanukkah ceremony, said he answered the front door of the rabbi's house and was confronted by the tall, burly suspect wielding a knife so big that it was "almost like a broomstick." He said the attacker burst into the home swinging the knife and cutting victims as panic spread through the residence and people began running out a back door.

"I asked, who is coming in, in the middle of the night, with an umbrella?" said Kohn. "While I was saying that ... right away, boom, he pulled out the knife from the holder, from the case. And I'm throwing tables and chairs, that he should get out of here."

Kohn said the unidentified man ran past him, into a large room, where he attacked those inside.

PHOTO: Members of the Jewish community gather outside the home of rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in Monsey, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2019, after an attack that took place earlier outside the rabbi's home during Hanukkah. (Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images) More

"I saw him stabbing people," Kohn said. "He injured a guy, he was bleeding [from his neck], he was bleeding in his hand, all over."

(MORE: NYPD investigating rash of possible anti-Semitic attacks in last 2 weeks)

Asked if the intruder had said anything to him when he met him at the door, Kohn said, "He said something but I couldn't hear what he said."

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