The attacker fled and attempted to carjack a taxi, but was spotted by Carlos Acosta, an on-duty postal police officer, who was shot in the chest during the encounter but still managed to arrest the gunman. El Sayyid Nosair was identified as the attacker but could not be convicted of murder as Meir Kahane's family would not have an autopsy performed to remove the bullets for forensic identification. Nosair was sentenced to 22 years for the shooting of the postal police officer, assault, and possession of a firearm.

Later investigation connected the murder to a larger plot where Nosair had two accomplices and had intended to kill Israeli military commander and politician Ariel Sharon, who would go on to become Israel's Prime Minister in 2001. Upon the arrest of Omar Abdul-Rahman for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center parking garage, it was revealed that Abdul-Rahman also had previous plans to use a truck bomb against Attica State Prison as a way to extricate Nosair, who had been a member of Abdul-Rahman's terrorist cell.