A U.S. attorney in Albany, New York, was chased by a knife-wielding person believed to be in the country illegally, reported the Times Union on Wednesday.
The man approached John A. Sarcone III "and pulled a knife and lunged toward the federal prosecutor, who retreated into the Hilton on Lodge Street. Police reviewed security camera footage that showed the man wielding a knife and appearing to pursue Sarcone as he ran toward the hotel lobby," reported Brendan J. Lyons, H. Rose Schneider, and Mike Goodwin.
The suspect, Saul Morales-Garcia, is reportedly from El Salvador and has previously been deported for being in the United States illegally. "He has had multiple brushes with police in several states, including an incident in Virginia where he was charged with physically threatening someone," the report said.
Sarcone told the Times Union he first encountered Morales-Garcia after leaving his office.
“I got my eye on him, then I turn back and I’m in front of the Hilton, and I’m just standing there, and I’m looking at him … and he then starts yelling at me in his language that I don’t understand. I’m smoking a cigar. I don’t say anything to him … and then he pulls the knife. He’s lunging towards me, and I’m still standing there with the cigar.”
After Sarcone contacted law enforcement, he continued, “I didn’t want him to get away, and I yelled out at him. He turns around, and he starts yelling again … and then he pulls the knife out, and then there’s this (gesture) across his throat thing, like he’s going to slit my throat, and then comes at me again, and I ran back towards the hotel, and then he stopped, and then turned around.”
Sheriff's deputies swiftly arrested him and seized the knife.
This comes amid new reporting that President Donald Trump's aggressive quotas for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest massive numbers of people are forcing agents to neglect pursuing violent gangs and other genuine dangers to the public, in favor of raiding workplaces and Home Depots for large numbers of day laborers.