Brooklyn Woman Charged with Hate Crimes After Stabbing Incidents in Manhattan Diamond District

Brooklyn resident Anna Mochalova, 32, was taken into custody on Saturday following two separate attacks in Manhattan's Diamond District that prosecutors have classified as hate crimes. The incidents, which occurred about five minutes apart on Wednesday evening, involved a man in traditional Hasidic attire who reported feeling a sharp sting in his lower back and a second man wearing a yarmulke who said he was jabbed in his forearm.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the first victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition, while the second declined medical treatment at the scene. Police say the suspect threatened the second victim in Russian, claiming she had a gun, and later approached a third individual, asking in English whether he was Jewish. When he answered that he was Muslim, she apologized and walked away.

Manhattan Shomrim Safety Patrol, the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, and community volunteers helped locate the suspect after a public appeal for video evidence. Surveillance footage was used to create a still image that led officers to identify Mochalova.

Mochalova was arraigned on two counts of second-degree assault as a hate crime, one count of second-degree menacing as a hate crime, and multiple counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree aggravated harassment. A judge set bail at $50,000 cash or $150,000 bond, lower than the prosecutors’ request, and scheduled her next court appearance for Oct. 29.

Her attorney, Legal Aid’s Lila Carpenter, questioned the identification of her client during the arraignment. > "These allegations are concerning. Whether they’re my client’s is a different story," Carpenter told the court.

Advocacy group StopAntisemitism condemned the attacks, posting on X, "What has happened to NYC, a once safe haven for Jews?" The incidents come amid a reported 13% rise in hate crimes citywide during the first nine months of 2026, with anti-Jewish offenses accounting for more than half of the 463 confirmed cases.