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A previously deported illegal migrant with a long rap sheet has been arrested on attempted murder charges in Albany after he pulled out a knife and lunged at the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, according to prosecutors.
Saul Morales-Garcia, 40, who is originally from El Salvador, charged at U.S. attorney John Sarcone on Tuesday night while he was outside a hotel, according to prosecutors.
Sarcone, who was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi in March, said he feared for his life.
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The migrant didn’t injure Sarcone, who fled into the hotel on Lodge Street and called Sheriff Craig Apple just before 10 p.m.
Sarcone said he then went back to the street and called Garcia-Morales in order to stop the migrant from fleeing the scene, believing an innocent person would be killed if he wasn’t apprehended.
But before law enforcement arrived, Morales-Garcia charged at Sarcone again, screaming and yelling at him in a foreign language while wielding the knife to make a slitting-the-throat gesture, prosecutors said.
Sarcone again ran to the lobby of the Hilton where Morales-Garcia stopped, turned and began to walk away but was arrested when sheriff’s deputies arrived. Morales-Garcia was taken into custody and the knife was recovered.
“I felt an obligation to the public as the chief Federal law enforcement officer in the district that includes the city of Albany,” Sarcone said in a statement. “I feared for my life but I couldn’t let this individual harm and potentially kill others.”
Morales-Garcia, who unlawfully reentered the United States in 2021, has been charged with attempted murder, felony weapons possession and menacing, according to court documents. Police said it was a random attack.
He was arraigned in Albany City Court and pleaded not guilty. He is currently being held without bail.
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“Public safety is our highest priority,” Sarcone said. “I am relieved that no one was harmed. I appreciated the swift response by the Albany County Sheriff’s office, which was within minutes, although it seemed like an eternity.”
Sarcone said that despite his familiarity with streets, he thinks they are dangerous.
“I’m a resident of the city of Albany, and I can’t … I don’t feel safe to go out for a walk and have a cigar right near the state Capitol,” he told Times Union.
The sheriff praised Sarcone and said his “selfless actions likely saved lives.”
Sarcone is responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions and civil litigation in 32 counties in the Northern District of New York.
He requested that his office be recused from prosecuting Morales-Garcia for illegally re-entering the United States, which is a felony. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York will now be prosecuting the case. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are also involved in the investigation.
Morales-Garcia has a criminal record in at least three other states besides New York, according to the Times Union.
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Morales-Garcia was convicted in Georgia in 2022 for driving under the influence and driving without a license, and he currently has an active warrant in Forsyth County for failure to appear in court that year.
He was arrested in Virginia 2023 by U.S. Park Police on federal property for disorderly conduct while he was charged with retail theft in Philadelphia last year.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. attorney’s office and Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) for comment.
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