The halal food cart vendor who was stabbed outside Fordham University’s Manhattan campus is lucky to be alive, his co-worker and cousin said Saturday.
“He thanks God for his life,” Bashir Elfiky said about co-worker Ayman Moustafa, who mans the night shift at the halal cart at W. 60th St. and Columbus Ave. “[The suspect] wanted to kill him or wanted to steal the money — because he wanted to get inside.”
Moustafa, 25, was working inside the cart at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday when he got into an argument with the suspect, who police described as Black, about 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds with short hair.
“It’s the first time he’s seen [the suspect],” Elfiky, 46, said.
Outraged, the suspect tried to enter the cart during the argument. As Moustafa tried to push him back, the attacker grabbed the halal cart vendor by the wrist and jammed a knife into the back of his left arm before running off.
Moustafa suffered a minor injury, but declined medical attention at the scene, police said.
“He tried to get inside the cart,” Elfiky said of the suspect. “He chuck him with the knife. He tried to get him in the stomach. This is the first time we hear something in the area like that.”
Moustafa told the Fordham University student newspaper The Observer that that he begged his attacker to leave the cart.
“I told him, ‘Go back please, don’t enter please.’ And he got a knife in his pocket, and he stabbed me — he tried to stab me in my stomach. And when I pushed him out, he just got my arm with the knife,” Moustafa told the paper.
The suspect didn’t say anything to Moustafa that made Elfiky think the attack was fueled by any kind of bias or hate.
“He didn’t know [his attacker],” Elfiky said about Moustafa, his cousin. “I think [he] come for steal the money.”
So far, police are investigating the incident as an assault not a hate crime, an NYPD spokesman said.
The only thing close to this incident occurred a few years ago, when someone swiped the tip jar from the counter, Elfiky said.
“He take it and he had a scooter and ran. He smart, the guy,” Elfiky said, laughing.
On Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack.
“Our streets must be a safe space for everyone, including hardworking vendors like Ayman Mustafa,” said Afaf Nasher, the executive director of CAIR-NY. “We hope the matter is taken with the seriousness it deserves and that the perpetrator is brought to justice swiftly.”
The food cart operates from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. Despite the attack, Moustafa was already back at work, Elfiky said.
“He still works the night shift the same way,” Elfiky said. “Yesterday he got the detective to check everything and he check the camera.”
Ismail, who runs another food cart nearby, said his customers never cause any trouble during the day.
Nighttime, however, can be a different story.
“There can be a lot of drunk people [at night],” he said. “If I see something like this, I call the cops.
“Daytime is OK. No problems. But once it gets dark…,” he said before trailing off.
The stabber remained at large Saturday. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
