What you should know
- Two MoMA employees were stabbed to death inside the Manhattan museum in March 2022, allegedly by a former museum employee who was denied access to the facility on the day of the attack.
- Gary Cabana allegedly jumped onto the reception desk, showed surveillance video, and stabbed the two 24-year-old men; He then fled to Philadelphia, where he was arrested after he burned down his hotel room, police said.
- The 60-year-old Manhattan resident pleaded guilty to arson in that case and was extradited to New York to face attempted murder and assault charges in the MoMA stabbings.
NEW YORK – The former Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) member accused of stabbing two employees when they were denied entry to the Manhattan facility nearly a year ago, and who was briefly on the run from justice, is He was extradited to New York City after pleading guilty to burning down his Philadelphia hotel room, where he was captured, authorities said Wednesday.
New York Police confirmed on Wednesday that Gary Cabana, 60, who told officers he was found asleep on a bench at the Greyhound bus terminal in Philadelphia a few days later of the March 2022 attack who “had a bad day”He was charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault for the museum stabbings.
Information from the defendant’s attorney was not available.
New York City police have released new video taken from inside the MoMA that shows the suspect jumping off the reception desk and cornering several workers before stabbing two of them. At the time of the attack a man is seen, with what appears to be a walkie-talkieas he tried to catch the suspect on the other side of the counter.
Eventually, both victims manage to escape in the chaos.
At the time, NYPD officials said Cabana allegedly tried to enter the museum to see a movie, but was denied because his membership had been revoked the day before over repeated rioting. He was also told a day before the attack that his MoMa membership had ended, authorities said.
Both museum employees were recovering at home in the days following the attack and should be fine.
In the days that followed, Cabana took to social media with a series of rambling posts denying he had misbehaved before losing his MoMA membership. He also tried to downplay the attack, saying it was a “wake-up call” and accused museum staff of framing him.
Philadelphia’s arson case erupted when he set fire to a hotel room at the Best Western Plus on Vine Street, an incident that was also caught on surveillance video.
The hotel receptionist called authorities to say a guest had checked in with the last name Cabana but used his middle name instead of his first, law enforcement sources said. Philadelphia police officers searched the area and found him at the bank. He had been detained in Philadelphia awaiting court appearances and psychiatric evaluations there earlier Wednesday.
