Sean Pelzer, 36, of Brooklyn, was charged after allegedly entering Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood on Wednesday armed with a knife and a baseball bat, according to the New York City Police Department.
Pelzer was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal trespass, an NYPD spokesperson told JNS.
Police said officers responded to a report of “a 36-year-old male unlawfully inside of a synagogue with a baseball bat” at 770 Eastern Parkway, within the confines of the 71 Precinct.
“The individual was subsequently taken into custody without further incident,” police told JNS.
Footage of the incident shows Chabad attendees ushering a black man, who appears to be wearing a black kippah, out of the building and toward a nearby NYPD police vehicle.
Chabad Headquarters has reportedly contacted police about Pelzer several times.
“This is the reality of being Jewish under the mayoral control of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. It’s open city on attacking the Jews,” stated Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, who thanked police for protecting Chabad’s 770 location.
“Mamdani, your words have zero impact because everyone knows you want these actions,” he wrote. “No Jew is safe in this city.”
