ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A man fired a shotgun twice outside a Jewish temple in upstate New York on Thursday, hours before the start of Hanukkah, then said “Free Palestine” as he was taken into custody, police said. No one was injured.
The episode in the state capital of Albany took place amid rising fears of antisemitism worldwide and fallout from Israel’s intensifying war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll.
The shots were fired outside Temple Israel just before 2 p.m. and a 28-year-old man was in custody, according to officials. Police did not identify the man, but Gov. Kathy Hochul said he was a local resident.
A passerby talked to the gunman near the temple about 10 minutes after the shots were fired. The man dropped the shotgun before officers arrived on the scene and detained him, Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins told reporters at the scene.
“We were told by responding officers that he made a comment, ‘Free Palestine,’” Hawkins said.
The chief said the episode was being investigated as a hate crime and that there was no indication other people were involved. An FBI spokesperson said the agency was aware of the episode and assisting as necessary.
The governor called the episode particularly deplorable because it occurred at the start of Hanukkah.
“The prospect of violence in a place of worship is not just an attack on a building, it's an attack on the very fabric of our society, our freedom to express our faith, our collective, shared sense of safety,” Hochul said at a briefing in New York City.
Hochul said she directed the state police and New York National Guard to be on high alert and to increase existing patrols of at-risk sites that were planned for Hanukkah, which begins Thursday evening at sundown.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed.
Article From:
pix11.com
English (US) ·