A man tried to ram his Honda Accord sedan through an entrance of Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters on 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn on Wednesday night.
After several attempts, police arrived at the scene and arrested him. They responded to a 911 call at 8:46 p.m., according to reports.
Video of the incident circulated online. No injuries were reported, however, the New York Police Department opened a hate crime investigation into the incident.
The synagogue inside the building, commonly referred to as 770, was evacuated as a precaution, Chabad spokesperson Yaacov Behrman said.
“Witnesses report the driver yelled for people to move as he drove in,” he wrote on X/Twitter. “It appears intentional.”
Motti Seligson, Chabad’s director of media, said according to some reports, the suspect had previously tried to enter different Jewish institutions in New Jersey, including Chabad, but was stopped.
In one incident, the police had been called, he posted on X.
'Antisemitism has no place in our city'
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrived at the scene and said the crash had been intentional.
“This is deeply alarming, especially given the deep meaning and history of the institution to so many in New York and around the world,” he wrote on X. “Any threat to a Jewish institution or place of worship must be taken seriously. Antisemitism has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Jewish New Yorkers is unacceptable.”
“I stand in solidarity with the Crown Heights Jewish community,” Mamdani wrote, adding that he was “relieved that no one was injured in this horrifying incident.”
New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul said it was the second day in a row that there had been an antisemitic attack against Jewish New Yorkers.
“An attack against the Jewish community is an attack against all New Yorkers,” she posted on X.
New York City Comptroller Mark D. Levine said the attempted car-ramming had been a “frightening incident at one of our city’s most iconic Jewish institutions.”
The incident took place toward the end of Yud Shvat, the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat. It is the yahrzeit of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who passed away in 1950. His son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, became the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe and officially accepted the role exactly one year later in 1951.
Thousands of Jews had come to Chabad headquarters to celebrate Yud Shvat.