Salman Rushdie Attack Suspect Arrested, Charged With Attempted Murder and Assault
announced Saturday.“The individual responsible for the attack yesterday, Hadi Matar, has now been formally charged with Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and Assault in the Second Degree,” Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said in a statement.The 24-year-old Fairview, New Jersey, resident is being held without bail at Chautauqua County Jail.Rushdie was giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York when the suspect rushed the stage and stabbed him in the neck and abdomen. He was airlifted to a Pennsylvania hospital, where he underwent surgery for several hours on Friday afternoon.Later that evening, Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, reported that the 75-year-old novelist was on a ventilator and could not speak.