Residents Attend a Prayer Vigil for the Injured Officers

Crown Heights, Brooklyn — Around 5:00pm on Wednesday evening a prayer vigil took place in front of the 71st Precinct which serves the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn and is the Precinct which Officers Russell Timoshenko and Herman Yan served. Tens of residents gathered in front of the Precinct on the corner of Empire Blvd and New York Ave along with community leaders and activists to pray for the recovery of Officer Timoshenko who was critically injured in a shooting earlier this week.

More pictures and a video in the Extended Article.

Mr. Timoshenko was shot twice in the head and still has the bullets lodged in the back of his skull is still listed in critical condition in Kings County Hospital, his partner, Officer Yan was released from the hospital after his vest saved his life.

In an interview to ABC TV R. Shea Hecht said that “the Jewish community is in pain and outrage to what has taken place, unfortunately it was one of our best, these officers worked with the citizen patrol in our community, and have they have been sighted as aggressive cops at doing their job.”

When asked what he had to say to those who committed this heinous crime, he said: “I am confident that the police will find them, and they will pay for what they did”. [The full interview can be watched at the bottom of this page]

Papers with Tehillim [Psalms] were distributed to the crowd and R. Hecht explained the prayers that they were going to recite. “We are now going to say three prayers” he said. “One for the Police Department in general, a second for the immideate recovery of the two officers, and the third (Mi Shebairach) a prayer that we say in our synagogues for the recovery of Officer Timoshenko”.

Also in attendance was R Moshe Rubashkin Chairman of the Vaad HaKahal, R. Tzvi Lang member of the Vaad HaKahal R Avrohom Leider of Ahavas Chesed, R. Nuchi Gross and many Shomrim members.