Ipleaded not guilty to these charges. The bond was set at US $ 5 million.
A witness saw the suspect’s vehicle fleeing the scene and revealed the license plate number to police. A check in a data system traced the automobile to Manhattan. “This was decisive in the investigation,” admitted police chief Brad Weidel.
At the time of his arrest, a few hours after the alleged acts, the suspect’s clothes were covered in blood and smelled of detergent.
Thomas has been in trouble with the law before. He was notably arrested for attacking a police horse, indicates a police source. According to a lawyer representing the suspect during the indictment, he was never convicted.
The FBI was trying to obtain a warrant to search his internet accounts and gather digital evidence. Authorities were also investigating whether the 37-year-old suspect has ever suffered from psychiatric problems.
Domestic terrorism
One of the injured is in critical condition, state Governor Andrew Cuomo said. The rabbi’s son was also injured, he added. Authorities have given no reason for the attack. Cuomo says it is an act of domestic terrorism fueled by intolerance and the “cancer” of hatred that is eating into the United States.
The governor pointed out that it was the 13th anti-Semitic attack to be carried out in New York since December 8. “This violence is driven by hatred. It is mass violence. I see this as an act of internal terrorism. Let’s call a spade a spade, ”Cuomo said on Sunday.
The attack happened around 10 p.m. Saturday at Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg’s residence, located next to a synagogue.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, took a while to react, waiting until mid-afternoon to condemn a “horrific” anti-Semitic act. He called on the rally to “fight, confront and eradicate the scourge of anti-Semitism”.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote on Sunday that she was “deeply disturbed by the knife attack in Monsey and the wave of anti-Semitic attacks in the New York metro area.”
“We must condemn and confront anti-Semitism and all forms of religious intolerance and hatred in all places where they are manifested,” she added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country “categorically condemns recent anti-Semitic acts and the violent assault at the residence of a New York rabbi.”
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