Gary Cabana arrested in stabbings of 2 workers at MoMA in March 2022, NYPD says
A man who allegedly stabbed two MOMA employees in March 2022 has been arrested and charged, the NYPD announced Wednesday. Gary Cabana, 60, has been charged with attempted murder and assault. Credit: NYPD Crimestoppers
The suspect in a recent headline-grabbing crime — the March 2022 midafternoon stabbing of two workers at Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art — was arrested shortly after midnight Wednesday, the NYPD said.
Gary Cabana, 60, who lived just 10 blocks south of the West 53rd Street museum, was charged with attempted murder and assault after being extradited from Philadelphia, where he was charged in an unrelated crime, the NYPD said.
Cabana had apparently erupted in rage at being barred from entry to MoMA on Saturday, March 12, because of past outbursts.
Though his membership was revoked, Cabana, wearing a black hat and a surgical mask, entered the main lobby through a revolving door, and jumped over the reception desk when a man who appeared to be carrying a walkie-talkie — suggesting he might have been with security — tried to stop him, a video shows.
Three employees were trapped behind the desk; Cabana stabbed a 24-year-old woman in the lower back and back of the neck before she managed to flee, according to the police and the video.
The second male victim, also 24, was then stabbed in the left collarbone — but the man with the walkie-talkie distracts Cabana by hurling a notebook at him, allowing his second victim to escape. A third worker escaped by running off, followed by Cabana.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene as a number of museum visitors rushed for the exits.
Both workers were described as “stable” when taken to NYC Health and Hospitals/Bellevue with non-life-threatening injuries. MoMA had no immediate comment Wednesday about the arrest.
The NYPD released photos of the suspect — who just three days later was arrested by the Philadelphia Police Department.
“It looks like when he was in Philly, he had set fire to a hotel room at Best Western,” said NYPD Sgt. Anwar Ishmael. “Then he fled the location; they caught him sleeping on a bench outside a Greyhound bus station.”
The Philly police were able to identify Cabana, the sergeant explained, because he had used a photo ID to check into the hotel.
No additional details about any charges facing Cabana in Philadelphia were immediately available.
With AP
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