Illegal Migrant Accused of Knife Attack on U.S. Attorney in Albany, NY

An illegal immigrant from El Salvador, Saul Morales-Garcia, allegedly attacked U.S. Attorney John Sarcone in Albany with a knife, making a throat-slitting gesture before being arrested. He remains jailed without bail.

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. Morales-Garcia, 40, who is originally from El Salvador, charged at 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. 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 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.