Police sources tell Ben Smith that Michael Enright, the alleged cabbie stabber, made “nonsensical” statements to police after his arrest overnight. That would be consistent with earlier reports that Enright was very drunk. But perhaps points to something more.
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As you’ve seen in our earlier reports, we have what appears to be a straight-up hate crime, in which an NYC cabbie picks up a fare, passenger asks him if he’s Muslim and then stabs him in the neck. The NYPD says Michael Enright, 21, is going to be charged with 2nd degree attempted murder and a hate crime. (See the statement from the victim here.)
Only then things get a little weird. Enright is not who you’d expect. He’s a film student who’d recently been either volunteering for or employed by Intersection International, a multifaith and multicultural effort which seeks to promote justice and peace. And the group has very publicly come out in favor of the Cordoba House project, what opponents call the “Ground Zero Mosque.”
Needless to say, that’s a bit difficult to figure.
Police say that Enright was very drunk when the incident occurred, which may provide some limited explanation. But I don’t think someone who’s pro-interfaith dialog finds a Muslim cabbie to stab because he’s loaded.
For the moment we’ve got a real mystery on our hands.
But there is this. A project Enright was working on apparently had him go to Afghanistan as an embed to follow and do a film on a high school friend who’d enlisted in the Marines. We’re trying to get to the bottom of just when he was in Afghanistan and how it lines up with the other events in question. This is purely speculation. I want to emphasize that. But I wonder if Enright could have had some experience in the Afghanistan that, to put it coarsely, just messed him up and led to this. According to the statement released by the victim, Ahmed Sharif, just after Sharif identified himself as a Muslim and just before the attack Enright yelled, “Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint.”
All we can say with any assurance at this point is that the facts as we know them do not fit clearly into patterns we might expect. We’ll keep digging and bring you more information as we find it.
So who is Michael Enright, the guy accused of the hate crime stabbing of a Muslim cabbie Tuesday night in NYC? Turns out the answer is a bit complicated. Here’s our initial report.
The victim of the apparent hate crime stabbing of a Muslim cabbie over night here in NYC has released a statement. The victim’s name is Ahmed Sharif, 43, of Queens.
“I feel very sad,” Sharif said, in a statement released by the Taxi Workers Alliance. “I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All four of my kids were born here.”
Read the full statement here.
We’re piecing together more information about the background of 21 year old Michael Enright, the accused in the suspected stabbing last night of a Muslim cabbie. The police are treating it as a hate crime. The latest is that police sources are saying Enright was very drunk when the incident occurred. The victim, an unidentified 43 year old Asian man is listed in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital, according the NYPD.
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Here’s our latest report on the attempted murder of a Muslim NYC cabbie in what the NYPD is treating as a hate crime. Suspect Michael Enright, 21, stabbed the victim after allegedly asking if he was a Muslim.
Report: NYC cabbie stabbed after passenger asks ‘Are You Muslim?’
The initial reports are sketchy. And it’s always important to remember the story of the backwards B. It’s not a matter of trying to raise doubts. But with such inflammatory stories it’s always important to look really closely at the details and take it one step at a time. We’re digging for more details. More soon.
Late Update: Our reporter Eric Lach just spoke to the NYPD. They confirmed the key details of the story and said the attack will be charged as 2nd degree attempted murder and a hate crime. The suspect in the case is Michael Enright, 21. Full report soon.
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