Two Women Stabbed at Museum of Modern Art

Two women were stabbed at the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan on Saturday afternoon, the police said.

Both women were in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital after the incident. The police said they were looking for one man in connection with the attack.

Julia Garcia Valles, 24, a tourist from Spain, was waiting in line on West 53rd Street to enter the museum when people shouting, “Shooting!” began to rush out the doors in a panic. Some fell to the floor in the confusion, she said.

“We were really scared,” she added.Alyssa Katz, deputy editor for the local news site The City, was on her way to meet up with friends at the museum when she saw people running out. Ms. Katz, 53, said she spoke to two frightened French tourists who said they had seen someone stabbed in the underarm area.

Her friend Mike Rubin, 55, a writer who contributes to The New York Times and other publications, was waiting for Ms. Katz in the lobby when a security guard told his group to leave the building immediately. He later spoke to a witness who said he had seen someone barge past the guards and stab two women who worked at the museum.

Mr. Rubin had hoped to see the Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Joseph E. Yoakum exhibits. Outside the museum, “It was like a game of telephone,” among people who had to rush out, he said. “No one knew what was happening.”

Christian Desrosiers, 34, an entrepreneur, said he was getting his ticket scanned when the commotion began.

He added that he was one of the first people to run out, after he saw three women in front of him bolt for the exit.

“They turned around on a dime and started sprinting out, so I figured that I would join them,” he said. “People were clearly hustling to get out, but nobody was screaming, at least at the time I was in there.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.