5 wounded in stabbing at rabbi's home outside New York City

Police said a man stabbed and wounded five people with a large knife at a Rabbi's home in Monsey, New York, on Saturday night.

People were gathered at the house to celebrate the seventh night of Hanukkah when the attacker burst in and created what has been described as a terrifying scene at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, which is about 35 miles north of New York City. "[The suspect] started attacking people right away as soon as he came in the door," said Aron Kohn, who said he was in the home at the time of the attack. "We didn't have time to react at all."

The suspect then reportedly tried to enter a synagogue next door, but people inside reportedly heard screams from the neighboring house and locked the door.

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The suspect was reportedly apprehended in Harlem by the New York Police Department. Police have not indicated whether they were investigating the violence as an anti-Semitic hate crime, but the New York area has recently seen a series of high profile attacks against its Jewish community, including a shooting rampage in Jersey City, New Jersey, earlier this month. Monsey is an area with a large population of ultra-Orthodox Jews, per The New York Times.

Several New York state leaders, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Attorney General Letitia James, condemned the violent act. Read more at The New York Times and The Washington Post.