Authorities have identified the suspect in the brutal attack of author Salman Rushdie that has left the victim hospitalized and placed on a ventilator due to a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm, and an eye.
The stabbing attack on the author led to praise pouring in for him from the West as he was disparaged in Iran. The 75-year-old victim was likely to lose the injured eye, said his agent, Andrew Wylie on Friday evening.
Salman Rushdie on a Ventilator
Police officials identified the suspect as 24-year-old Hadi Matar who was arrested after the incident at the Chautauqua Institution, a non-profit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
The suspect, who was from Fairview, New Jersey, was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, said Mayor Ali Tehfe. The victim's novel "The Satanic Verses" drew death threats after it was published in 1988, as per the Associated Press.
The novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims who saw one character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book was quickly banned in Iran where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for the author's death.
Law enforcement noted that the motive for the brutal Friday attack remains unclear, adding that Matar was born a decade after Rushdie's banned novel was first published. Investigators are now working to determine whether or not the attacker acted alone.
According to CNN, authorities are also known to be working to obtain search warrants for several items found at the scene, including a backpack and electronic devices, said State Police Troop Commander Major Eugene J. Staniszewski.
Brutal Attack
The police official's remarks came during a Friday evening news conference following the brutal attack. Police were also revealed to be cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local authorities to determine the exact motive of the suspect.
During the incident, the suspect reportedly jumped onto the stage and stabbed Rushdie at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen, said state police. Staff and audience members rushed to the suspect and pinned him to the ground before a state trooper took the assailant into custody.
Officials immediately airlifted the victim from a field adjacent to the venue, in a rural lake resort about 70 miles south of Buffalo, to a hospital. Rushdie was undergoing surgery at a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania, said Erie Police Department Deputy Chief William Marucci.
The co-founder of the Pittsburgh non-profit City of Asylum, Henry Reese, was also taken to a hospital and treated for a facial injury, and released. The organization was founded to "provide sanctuary in Pittsburgh to writers exiled under threat of persecution.
Various writers and politicians have spoken out about the incident and condemned the brutal attack on Rushdie that left the victim unable to speak. Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak championed free speech in their messages of support for Rushdie, The Guardian reported.
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