- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
(CNN) - When a man with a "great machete" broke into a rabbi's house and stabbed the victims while celebrating Hanukkah, Josef Gluck escaped danger.
Then he came back to face it.
It was Saturday night, and dozens of people had gathered at Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's house in Monsey, New York.
The congregants covered different generations, with people from 2 months to 80 years of age. About 20 of the youth were grandchildren of the rabbi himself, Gluck told CNN's "New Day" on Monday.
Josef Gluck
When the rabbi was finishing the candle-lighting ceremony, "the attacker entered ... with his big machete," Gluck said.
"I started running out through a side door, along with the people (in) the dining room."
But it didn't feel good to escape, especially if others still needed help.
Then "I ran to the front door to see if I could help someone on the other side," Gluck said.
He saw that a victim had a serious head injury.
"I said: 'Let's go ... The attacker is still in the kitchen,'" Gluck recalled. But the victim said he was bleeding too much to move.
Realizing that the attacker's attack was not over, Gluck said he grabbed a coffee table, went after the assailant and "I hit him in the face."
Josef Gluck said he used this table to hit the man with a machete in the face.
"And that's when he came back ... behind me," Gluck said. “He told me, 'Hey you! I'll catch you! ' And he started walking towards me. ”
But Gluck kept shouting "He is coming!" And warned everyone else to flee.
Finally, the assailant decided to leave. But Gluck was not going to let him leave after stabbing five people, leaving at least one seriously injured.
Then Gluck slowly followed the attacker outside.
“He sat in his car. I looked at his license plate number, called 911, ”said Gluck.
Police tracked suspect Grafton Thomas about an hour after the attack when a license plate reader captured the tag of his Nissan Sentra while crossing a bridge to New York City, authorities said.
Thomas pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of theft. The bond was set on Sunday at US $ 5 million.
Gluck's quick thinking helped lead to an arrest and may have saved lives. But he says he is not a hero.
"I don't feel like a hero," he said. “I feel that God is a hero. He sent me to the right place at the right time, and gave me the right mental state. ”
Stabbing Hanukkah