A Salvadoran national allegedly chased and threatened U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III with a knife in downtown Albany on Tuesday, prompting attempted murder charges.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

An illegal alien armed with a knife allegedly attempted to murder a federal prosecutor outside an Albany hotel on Tuesday, according to police and witness reports. The suspect, identified as Saul Morales-Garcia, 40, an illegal alien from El Salvador, was charged with attempted second-degree murder after allegedly targeting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III, a Trump appointee and head of the Northern District of New York.

The confrontation unfolded near the Hilton Albany on State Street, where Sarcone was taking an evening walk. According to the Albany Times Union, Morales-Garcia approached Sarcone, shouted at him in Spanish, and then pulled a knife, threatening the federal official. The entire incident was reportedly captured on the hotel’s security cameras.

“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,” Sarcone recounted to the newspaper. “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.”

Sarcone said he tried to alert authorities while keeping eyes on the suspect. “I didn’t want him to get away, and I yelled out at him,” he said. “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.”

Expressing deep concern, Sarcone added, “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.”

Authorities said Morales-Garcia has an active arrest warrant in Georgia in addition to the new charges filed in Albany. He was taken into custody and is scheduled to be arraigned in City Court on Wednesday.

The incident drew immediate condemnation from Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who criticized the state’s sanctuary policies. “In Kathy Hochul’s New York, nobody is safe, not even President Trump’s U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of NY, John A. Sarcone III, who was ‘confronted and chased’ by an illegal alien armed with a knife in Albany last night, the Times Union reported,” Stefanik said.

She added, “Three separate times, Hochul signed executive orders to protect violent illegal aliens from deportation. Kathy Hochul puts illegals first and New Yorkers last. We desperately need a governor who puts New Yorkers first and restores law and order to our streets.”