Suspect in NYC antisemitic stabbing attacked Jews in 2 other incidents, feds say

NEW YORK — The woman charged in an alleged antisemitic stabbing in New York City last week also attacked two other Jews in separate incidents — one on the same day, and another last year — federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Anna Mochalova, 32, was charged with two hate crimes in a federal court in New York City, days after she was charged in a local court.

The criminal complaint accompanying the federal charges provided new details about the allegations.

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An FBI investigator wrote that, on October 21 at around 5:50 p.m., a Jewish man was walking in Manhattan’s Diamond District when he noticed a woman, believed to be Mochalova, following him while speaking Russian.

The victim, an Orthodox man who was identifiably Jewish, felt Mochalova stab him in the lower back with a “sharp object.” He described the pain as “the feeling of a needle prick.”

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Investigators said they believed Mochalova had stabbed the man with a needle, but have not recovered the weapon. It was unclear if there were any substances inside the needle.

A security camera captured Mochalova removing her hand from a bag and jabbing the man in the back, but the weapon was not visible in the footage. The footage shows the Jewish man flinching and fleeing onto the sidewalk as Mochalova leaves the scene.

The 26-year-old victim was taken to a hospital in stable condition, the NYPD said.

Shortly after that alleged attack, Mochalova allegedly committed another, approaching two other Jewish men at Sixth Ave. and 45th St., around two blocks south of the initial attack. The Jewish men were identifiable because they were wearing kippahs.

Mochalova repeatedly bumped into one of the men. As the man started to confront her, Mochalova allegedly stabbed him with a “sharp object” in his right forearm.

The victim, who speaks Russian, said that Mochalova told him in Russian, “Run away. I have a gun.” Mochalova asked the second man if he was Jewish, according to the criminal complaint.

He said, “I don’t know. I’m Muslim?”

Mochalova responded that she was “so sorry,” then fled the scene. The victim refused medical treatment at the scene, police said.

Three days later, Mochalova was arrested for a transit violation in Brooklyn and was connected to the stabbing incidents.

After her arrest, investigators also connected her to an attack on a Jewish person in a Hasidic area of Brooklyn in June 2025. She was arrested for that attack as well.

In that incident, Mochalova allegedly approached a 19-year-old Jewish man outside a yeshiva on Eastern Parkway. The road runs through the Crown Heights Hasidic community, but investigators did not identify a specific address.

Mochalova is accused of grabbing the Jewish man’s phone and smashing it on the ground. Mochalova said she had gone to the yeshiva to search for someone who had “assaulted her friend’s children in Los Angeles,” and repeatedly railed against “the Jewish community,” investigators said.

The federal hate crime charges each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Mochalova had previously been charged with hate crimes and other offenses in a local court. Federal authorities sometimes pick up more serious hate crime cases.

She pleaded not guilty to the local charges and is being held in detention.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York City more than all other groups combined, according to NYPD data.

Police have reported at least 245 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes so far this year, 53% of all total hate crimes in the city.

The two attacks last week were at least the fourth and fifth anti-Jewish stabbings in the city in recent years.

In August 2024, Vincent Sumpter stabbed an Israeli yeshiva student in Brooklyn while shouting, “Free Palestine.” He was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted murder.

In December 2025, Armani Charles stabbed a Jewish man outside a Jewish center in Brooklyn while making antisemitic remarks. He pleaded guilty to attempted assault as a hate crime and will be sentenced in January.

In July, Raul Morales allegedly stabbed a Jewish man with a screwdriver outside a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side while shouting, “allahu akbar.” Morales pleaded not guilty to hate crime charges, including attempted murder.

The incidents all caused non-fatal injuries.

An October 2024 knife attack was initially believed to be antisemitic, but there did not appear to be any confirmation of bias or arrests in the case.

Tarek Bazrouk and Saadah Masoud, two other individuals prosecuted in federal court for antisemitic hate crimes in New York City in recent years, had also repeatedly attacked Jews before they were imprisoned.

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