Hanukkah Stabbing Suspect Indicted in New York on Six Counts of Attempted Murder

The man accused of going on a stabbing rampage at the New York-area home of a Hasidic rabbi during a Hanukkah celebration was indicted on Friday on six counts of attempted murder, up from five counts the suspect was charged with previously.

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The indictment also charges Grafton Thomas, 37, with three counts of assault, three counts of attempted assault and two counts of burglary stemming from the December 28 machete attack, Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh announced at a brief news conference.

The original criminal complaint filed the day after the assault charged Thomas with five counts of attempted murder – one for each victim authorities then said was stabbed or slashed in the incident – plus a single count of burglary.

Walsh declined to take questions from reporters, and a copy of the indictment was not immediately provided.

But the sixth attempted-murder count indicates investigators have revised their tally of victims, the most gravely injured of whom is reported to be a 72-year-old man who suffered machete blows to his head, leaving him partially paralyzed, comatose and breathing on a respirator.

Thomas is accused of storming into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, a prominent Hasidic Jewish leader in a predominantly ultra-Orthodox community of Monsey, New York, and attacking guests gathered there for a Hanukkah celebration.

Authorities said Thomas fled by car to Manhattan, where he was arrested later that night.