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MoMA stabbing suspect arrested in Philadelphia after allegedly setting fire to hotel room
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Mar 15, 2022
Modified Mar 15, 2022
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Mar 15, 2022
Modified Mar 15, 2022
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The man accused of stabbing two employees at the Museum of Modern Art on Saturday was arrested early Tuesday after allegedly setting fire to a hotel room in Philadelphia, police said.
Gary Cabana, a 60-year-old former Broadway usher, was found sleeping on a park bench near a Greyhound station at around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department said Cabana was also a suspect in a small fire that had been set inside a Best Western Hotel room roughly eight hours earlier.
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed Cabana’s arrest, adding that he will be extradited to New York to face charges in the double stabbing once he is processed for the alleged arson.
Police say Cabana was allegedly seen on video stabbing two 24-year-old employees of MoMA on Saturday afternoon, setting off a chaotic scene in the busy museum.
The arrest ends a citywide search for Cabana, a longtime Manhattan resident and fixture in Midtown theater circles. Police said he arrived at the museum on Saturday planning to see a film, but was turned away because of two prior incidents of misbehavior.
He allegedly responded by jumping the turnstile and counter at the museum, cornering the two employees and stabbing them in the back and neck. Both employees were hospitalized with non life-threatening injuries.
Cabana took to social media in the aftermath of the attack, appearing to downplay the crime while taunting police for not catching him. On Monday afternoon, a church in Midtown was evacuated after police received a tip about a man matching Cabana’s description.
Friends interviewed by Gothamist said Cabana had suffered from mental health struggles that worsened during the pandemic, and had engaged in alarming social media behavior in recent months. They said they pleaded with him to turn himself in to police in recent days.
The Museum of Modern Art is reopened to the public on Tuesday morning.
This story has been updated with additional information
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Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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