The search is on for three suspects wanted in connection with two antisemitic incidents in Brooklyn Saturday night that now has the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force investigating. NBC New York’s Adam Harding reports.
The search is on for three suspects wanted in connection with two antisemitic incidents in Brooklyn Saturday night that now has the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force investigating.
The NYPD said three men hopped out of a blue Toyota Camry outside a synagogue in Borough Park around 7 p.m. and made antisemitic statements toward four Jewish men who were observing Sabbath.
The group then allegedly banged on the synagogue door, kicked the mirror on a parked car outside, then got back into the Camry and drove off.
“Earlier today Orthodox Jews were harassed in front of this Shul on 16th Avenue by a group of males yelling ‘Free Palestine - kill all the Jews,’” Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein tweeted.
Police said roughly 45 minutes later, the same group was suspected of attacking two Jewish teenagers.
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The men allegedly made antisemitic statements, punched the victims and then chased them with a baseball bat. One of the attackers put a 17-year-old victim in a chokehold, according to police.
Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Borough Park's 66th Precinct police stationhouse and assured Orthodox leaders that anyone committing hate crimes would be arrested and prosecuted.
“The perpetrators of these incidents will be found,” de Blasio said. “We’ve talked about it in detail. They will be found. They will be prosecuted. They will suffer the consequences.”
Chief of Department Rodney Harrison promised beefed up policing of Orthodox neighborhoods. “If you choose to commit a hate crime in this city, my detectives will catch you,” said Harrison, who joined the mayor on Sunday. “We will bring you into custody and hold you accountable.
The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is investigating both incidents.
