New York City police arrested a man at Central Synagogue on hate crime charges after he disrupted a Shabbat service and allegedly assaulted a 63-year-old woman. File Photo Peter Foley/EPA
Aug. 15 (UPI) — A man in New York was arrested on hate crime charges after disrupting a Shabbat service and allegedly injuring a congregant in a Manhattan synagogue on Friday, police said.
Larry Montes, 46 of the Bronx, was arrested at Central Synagogue in the Upper East Side and charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime.
“As synagogue security was escorting him out, he struck a member of the congregation, damaged synagogue property, and then spit at and headbutted a member of the security team,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement on X.
Amid the confusion, there were shouts of panic as people in the synagogue scrambled, CNN reported.
One congregant, a 63-year-old woman, suffered a cut to her lip and injuries to her right forearm, according to the news outlet.
“Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement on X. “This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.”
As of August, 360 hate crimes were reported in the city this year, including 205 targeting Jewish people, The New York Times reported.
Sources told CNN that Montes has a history of mental health issues.