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MoMA suspect arrested in Philadelphia after stabbing two employees

Museum expected to reopen for first time after attack

Gino Spocchia
Tuesday 15 March 2022 09:09 EDT
2 people stabbed at Museum of Modern Art in brazen attack

Police have arrested a 60-year-old man suspected of stabbing two people at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.

Gary Cabana was found sleeping on a bench at a Greyhound bus terminal in Philadelphia on Monday night when he was arrested without incident, according to police.

The arrest came in connection with a fire that was set at a nearby hotel in Philadelphia, with police believing Mr Cabana was behind the act after CCTV showed him signing into a Best Western, according to CBS News.

“He didn’t put up a fight, he didn’t resist,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small was reported as saying late on Monday. “When police took him into custody, he came along voluntarily. So, we’re lucky in that respect.”

On Saturday, police in New York named Mr Cabana as the main suspect in a stabbing at the New York City art museum, where two members of staff were wounded.

Video showed him leaping over a reception desk and stabbing the two employees who had allegedly denied him entry because of a history of disorderly conduct. He also had his membership cancelled the day before.

“He became upset about not being allowed entrance and then jumped over the reception desk and proceeded to attack and stab two employees of the museum multiple times,” said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller at a press briefing following the attack.

The museum workers, a 24-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, were in a stable condition at New York City’s Bellevue hospital with injuries from stabbings to the neck, collarbone, and back.

Mr Cabana meanwhile remained on the run and it was not clear how he made his way to Philadelphia from New York.

The city’s police department told The New York Times that it was “no longer searching for” Mr Cabana following his arrest in Philadelphia.

The Museum of Modern art will reopen on Tuesday for the first time since Saturday’s incident, CBS News reported.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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