One Arrest Made In Antisemitic Subway Attack

by CrownHeights.info

An arrest has been made by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force in the antisemitic attack that targeted a group of Chabad Bochurim returning from a Menorah lighting in Manhattan.

“The violent perpetrator that assaulted a bochur on the train was taken into custody by the HCTF,” Crown Heights Shomrim wrote on social media. “Thank you to Rabbi Yaacov Behrman and Shomrim for assisting with this investigation.”

According to police, officers responded at approximately 8:40 p.m. Monday to a 911 call reporting an assault on a southbound No. 3 train near the Nostrand Avenue station in Brooklyn. Two bochurim in their early 20s told police they were confronted by two unidentified individuals who began yelling at them, grabbing their jackets, and making verbal threats.

Officials said the victims were part of a group of eight bochurim who had been returning from a Chanukah celebration in Union Square when the incident began on a subway platform and continued onto the train after a transfer at the Franklin Avenue station.

Cell phone video circulating on social media showed one suspect aggressively grabbing a passenger by the jacket, while another hurled threats. Police say that while the video did not capture the full exchange, the suspects allegedly made explicit antisemitic remarks during the encounter, including a statement of “F— the Jews.”

According to investigators, one suspect allegedly grabbed one of the victims by the collar, pointed his finger at him in a gun-like gesture, and threatened, “I’ll kill you.” The group exited the train at the Nostrand Avenue station and immediately contacted police. No injuries were reported.