NYC hit with wave of anti-Semitic crimes

Governor calling for hate crime investigations; mayor increasing police

An active shooting situation happened Dec. 10, 2019, in Jersey City, New Jersey. The report of shots fired was originally at the Bay View Cemetery. When police arrived, the suspects had reportedly barricaded themselves inside a bodega. The suspects then reportedly fired at responding police officers. The bodega has been identified as JC Kosher Supermarket. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed multiple officers were wounded.

Only weeks after a deadly shooting rampage in nearby Jersey City, New York City has seen a rash of anti-Semitic crimes during Hanukkah and Christmas.

The latest incident happened Friday, when a hoodie-wearing man walked into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters and threatened to shoot up the place, according to ABC7. The man then walked away. Police haven't made an arrest.

The building is on 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, where some other anti-Semitic incidents have been reported this week.

Also Friday morning, a group of three Jewish women reported being harassed and slapped in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. One woman, Tiffany Harris, 30, was arrested, according to The Associated Press.

On Thursday night, a 34-year-old woman and her 4-year-old son were attacked in Brooklyn while walking out of a Dunkin' Donuts, according to NBC New York. The woman was struck in the head. The victim called 911, and a Good Samaritan, now identified as Sean Lennon, and a friend followed the alleged attacker.

Police arrested Ayana Logan, 42, a homeless woman who was allegedly making anti-Semitic slurs at the victims during the attack.

The first attack happened Monday morning on New York’s Upper East Side, according to police. A 65-year-old man wearing a yarmulke was punched in the face after the suspect made an anti-Semitic remark, then was kicked while on the ground. The victim suffered cuts to his face and hand, police said.

Steven Jorge, 28, was arrested and charged.

On Christmas Eve morning, the AP reported a 25-year-old Jewish man walking on a Crown Heights sidewalk was approached by a large group of people. The man told police the group yelled a racial slur before throwing a Slurpee at him.

Later on Christmas Eve, a man was standing in front of a Crown Heights building when he was allegedly attacked by a group of as many as six people. The man told police one person in the group punched him in the back of his head. The group then reportedly ran off.

On Christmas Day, a 40-year-old man was reportedly punched in the face on 13th Avenue in Borough Park.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling for hate crime investigations, while Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced an increased police presence in several Orthodox neighborhoods.

"These are physical, violent assaults that not only affect the victim, they affect the victim's family. It affects the community, and it's something that just doesn't go away," Evan Bernstein, New York and New Jersey regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told CBS in New York.

Earlier this month, six people, including two attackers, were killed during an hours-long shooting spree in Jersey City, N.J. One of the victims was a police officer who was responding to a shooting at a kosher supermarket.

Police said one of the attackers had strong ties to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.