A knife-wielding illegal immigrant from El Salvador with a lengthy criminal record chased after one of New York’s top federal prosecutors in Albany, authorities said Wednesday.

Police arrested Saul Morales-Garcia after he lunged toward U.S. Attorney John Sarcone III on Tuesday night outside a hotel in the heart of the city, according to the Albany Times Union.

“I’m a resident of the city of Albany, and … I don’t feel safe to go out for a walk and have a cigar right near the state Capitol,” Mr. Sarcone told the newspaper.

The top prosecutor for New York’s Northern District said he was smoking a cigar after having just left his office when he noticed a man behaving erratically nearby.

Mr. Sarcone said the man started yelling at him, pulled out a knife and began coming toward him. The federal prosecutor retreated into a hotel and called Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple’s personal number.

“I didn’t want him to get away, and I yelled out at him,” Mr. Sarcone said. “He turns around, and he starts yelling again … and then he pulls the knife out, and then there’s this (gesture) across his throat thing, like he’s going to slit my throat, and then comes at me again, and I ran back towards the hotel, and then he stopped, and then turned around.”

The 40-year-old suspect was arrested moments later.

Morales-Garcia was arraigned Wednesday on attempted murder, felony weapons and menacing charges.

Prosecutors said Morales-Garcia has pending criminal cases in Pennsylvania for a retail theft offense in May 2024, and in Virginia after U.S. Park Police charged him with being drunk in public and engaging in physically threatening acts in December 2023.

He also has an active arrest warrant in Georgia from May 2022 for failure to appear in court. He has a prior conviction for drunk driving in the Peach State as well.

The Salvadoran national was deported from the U.S. in 2010 and reentered the country at an unknown date. Though entering the U.S. illegally isn’t itself a felony, doing so after one has been deported is such a crime should federal authorities choose to pursue a case.

Morales-Garcia is being held without bail at the Albany jail.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.