A man is accused of trying to kidnap a Hasidic Jewish boy as the child and his father walked through Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon.
The father and his two young sons were walking on the sidewalk in Crown Heights when the man came out from behind a black SUV and allegedly reached out for the six-year-old child, the New York Post reported.
The suspect was wearing a mask, a blue and white jacket, and white shoes.
Video footage shows the moment he appears to reach out and pick up the child. However, the boy’s father did not let go of his hand. The suspect then dropped the child as his father appeared to push the suspect who turned and walked away:
“The investigation is ongoing and is being handled by the 71st precinct. No arrests have been made at this time. A representative for Shomrim, a private police force serving NYC’s Jewish community, said that no words were exchanged between the attacker and his victims before or during the assault,” the Post article said.
More video footage shows a closer view of the incident and how the father pulled his child back towards him to keep the boy safe:
The news comes after three synagogues in New York City and the Brooklyn Museum were reportedly subjected to false bomb threats in May. Also, a man yelling, “Free Palestine!” stabbed and wounded a religious Jew in Brooklyn in August, per Breitbart News.
After the bomb threats, Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council [JCRC] of New York, said the amount of security needed to practice their faith in safety is “not normal.”
“We cannot normalize that in New York City in the year 2024 … we will never accept this as normal in New York, in the United States of America,” he commented.
