Follow-Up: Russian Woman Charged With Federal Hate Crimes in Stabbings of Two Jewish Men in Manhattan
NEW YORK — The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on October 29 that Anna Mochalova was arrested on federal hate crime charges in connection with her assaults of two Jewish men in and around the Diamond District in Manhattan on October 21, 2026. GSM reported the state charges and arraignment in this case on October 25. Mochalova was transferred from state custody on October 29 and was to be presented in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. of the New York Field Office, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch announced the arrest. McDonald said that, as alleged, Mochalova deliberately targeted Jewish victims with violence, and that the attack was made more terrifying because the specific weapon used, and its potential contents, remain unknown pending further investigation.
As alleged in the federal complaint and other public filings, on October 21 Mochalova attacked two Jewish men in quick succession with a sharp object consistent with being a needle. First, at approximately 5:50 p.m., the first victim was walking along West 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues when he noticed Mochalova following him and speaking in Russian; she then stabbed him in the lower back, which he described as the feeling of a needle prick. He has a beard and was wearing attire traditionally worn by Orthodox Jewish men, including a black hat, a black suit, a white shirt, and tzitzit.
Shortly afterward, Mochalova approached the second victim and another man standing on the northeast corner of Sixth Avenue and West 45th Street, about two blocks south; both men are Jewish and were wearing yarmulkes. She bumped into the second victim multiple times and, as he began to confront her, stabbed him in the right forearm with a sharp object. The second victim, who speaks Russian, recalled that Mochalova told him in Russian, in sum and substance, "run away, I have a gun." She also asked the other man, in sum and substance, if he was Jewish; when he answered, in sum and substance, "I don't know, I'm Muslim?", she told him she "was so sorry" and fled northbound on Sixth Avenue.
Mochalova, 32, of Russia, is charged with two counts of committing hate crimes, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office noted that the statutory maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and provided for informational purposes only, as any sentencing will be determined by a judge.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office's Civil Rights and Human Trafficking Unit in the Criminal Division, with consultation from the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaiya Arroyo and Christian Ronald are in charge of the prosecution. The charges in the complaint are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 纽约曼哈顿钻石区 West 47th Street 与 Sixth Avenue 一带夜景（袭击发生地，资料图）。Tdorante10 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Night view of the Diamond District near West 47th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, where the attacks took place (file photo). Photo by Tdorante10, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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