A man involved in the brutal stabbing of a volunteer for the Eric Adams campaign on the last day of early voting in New York City has been arrested, police said.
Gary Oliver, 34, was arrested early Friday morning and taken to the 40th Precinct, authorities say. He was walked out of the station house several hours later and refused to answer questions.
The 42-year-old victim was canvassing through the neighborhood on the 500 block of Morris Avenue on June 20 when two men approached and one of them stabbed the volunteer, according to police.
The men immediately fled the scene on foot and a knife and ice pick were recovered nearby, police sources familiar with the investigation told NBC New York.
Investigators believe the motive for the attack stems from a previous fight between Oliver and the victim last year, a law enforcement source said. Oliver now faces an attempted murder charge.
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The sources said the victim had campaign flyers on him at the time of the attack. He was taken to nearby Lincoln Hospital in critical but stable condition. A spokesperson for the campaign says Adam visited the wounded volunteer, who had to undergo surgery, at the hospital.
The stabbing was the latest brazen daylight attack caught on camera and follows a particularly violent shooting on a Bronx sidewalk that narrowly missed two young children.
Adams, a former police captain, had been in the borough one day earlier to speak out against Thursday's attack and the city's spike in shootings. He has risen to the top of most polls as issues of crime and policing have dominated recent mayoral debates. However, many of the most common types of crime in the city, including robberies, burglaries and grand larcenies, remain near historic lows.
News
Through the first five months of 2021, the total number of major crimes measured by the police department has been at its lowest level since comparable statistics became available in the 1990s.
