NYPD: Danial Shaukat, Ashan Azad, Haider Anjam arrested in back-to-back anti-semitic attacks
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NEW YORK (WCBS) — Three suspects are facing hate crimes charges after several anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn.
It comes amid a rising number of such crimes in the city.
The latest target was a kosher pizza shop in Manhattan, CBS2’s Jessica Layton reported.
“You understand the problem right now,” shop manager Maurizo Lijao said.
The problem is hate, and it quite literally showed up at the door of the pizzeria on Tuesday morning.
“It’s not good, you know? Not good. Not good,” Lijao said.
The manager at Sabo’s Pizza on Lexington Avenue was one of the first to see the mess left behind by a brick thrown through the glass of his Upper East Side shop.
“This is just abominable, so much hate going on,” the manager said.
“I’m shocked, I’m disgusted. Somebody I work with said she doesn’t even feel comfortable wearing her Jewish star around,” area resident Celeste Garson said.
It was the latest in a string of anti-Semitic crimes across the city.
The NYPD says there have been 80 such crimes so far this year, compared to 62 at this time last year.
Mayor Bill de Blasio reminded New Yorkers they’ll see extra police outside Jewish houses of worship after a shul on Staten Island was vandalized on Monday.
“That incident is unacceptable. Anyone who commits a hate crime, we’re gonna find them,” de Blasio said.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force says it has found one of the men involved in an attack on Jewish teens in Borough Park, Brooklyn last weekend.
Danial Shaukat, 20, of Brooklyn was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime. Ashan Azad, 19, and Haider Anjam, 20, face the same charges, among others.
In addition, the suspect seen and heard going on a tirade in front of a synagogue on Avenue S in Brooklyn was also apprehended. He was seen throwing a punch at one of the members, a 67-year-old federal agent in uniform.
In that case, the victim lives only feet away from where he was punched in the face. He was released from the hospital and told CBS2 he’s OK. Neighbors, however, remain shaken up and worried about each other.
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