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An unconscionable onstage stabbing rampage erupted in New York today when renowned author Salman Rushdie was to present a lecture.
The suspect, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, punched and stabbed him and the interviewer.
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What was supposed to be a long-anticipated lecture by illustrious author, 75-year-old Salman Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution unravelled to pandemonium in the afternoon after the perpetrator strode onto the stage and stabbed him and the host.
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I'm at the amphitheater. Presenter was just attacked on stage. I need EMS (Emergency Medical Services).
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Witnesses say the merciless attack that involved punching and stabbing was surreal.
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JOSHUA GOODMAN, Associated Press and Witness By Chance:
It wasn't quite clear, but there was clearly some sort of blood or red liquid going in many directions.
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CHARLES SAVENOR, Rabbi & Witness:
All I remember seeing at that time was the assailant's arm going up and down, up and down. It looked like Mr. Rushdie, who began on the chair, ended up on the floor.
{VO}
The some 2,500 spectators were caught off guard amid the chaos.
Police identified the stabber as black-clad 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey.
He was taken into custody now awaiting arraignment.
Rushdie suffered grave stab wounds to his neck and abdomen, was airlifted to a hospital and is now on a ventilator after surgery, with a pierced liver, broken nerves in his arm and an eye he's bound to lose.
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MAJ. EUGENE STANISZEWSKI, New York State Police Troop A Commander:
A trooper who was at the institution took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chicago County Sheriff's deputy.
We don't have any indication of a motive at this time.
{VO}
Many say it boils down to his blasphemous 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" that sparked satanic death threats.
He was subjected to a murder decree in 1989 by the then-Iranian Supreme Leader.
The undeterred Rushdie is a champion of freedom of expression and liberal causes.
The anti-Rushdie sentiment catapulted him into hiding with Britain's help.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were swift to condemn the attack.
Meanwhile, reaction among Iranians was mixed. Some lavished praise on the attacker while others fear the attack might aggravate Iran's relations with the wider world.
Recent Iranian regimes have distanced themselves from the murder edict, but the deafening anti-Rushdie voices continue to reverberate across the world.
Back in New York, residents of Buffalo prayed amid a moment of silence for Rushdie at an evening vigil.
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