Iran offered $3.3 million as a reward for anyone who successfully eliminated Author Salman Rushdie.

On Friday morning, someone seemed to take up the task. 

An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at a literary event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, in upstate New York, where Rushdie was about to speak. The man was seen punching and stabbing the author, who fell to the floor. The attacker was restrained.

Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs trying to assist him.

His condition was not immediately known.

Hundreds of people in the audience gasped at the incident and were then evacuated.

Rushdie’s writings caused him to receive death threats from the Iranian government in the 1980s, and his book “The Satanic Verses” was banned in the country in 1988 because it was considered blasphemous.

The original death threat, or fatwa, was issued by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The sentiment has lingered, and anti-Rushdie threats still persist. 

In 2012, an Iranian religious foundation raised the reward for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.

Rushdie has said in the past that he didn’t take the threats seriously, and continued to do public appearances.