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Suspect in Monsey Stabbings Did Searches for ‘Hitler,’ Charges Say Suspect in Monsey Stabbings Searched Online for ‘Hitler,’ Charges Say
(about 3 hours later)
Federal prosecutors on Monday filed hate crimes charges against the man accused of bursting into a Hasidic rabbi’s home and stabbing five Jewish people at a Hanukkah celebration. In his journal, prosecutors said, he wrote about Hitler and “Nazi culture.” On his phone, he searched online for “why did Hitler hate the Jews” at least four times and looked for “prominent companies founded by Jews in America.”
The charges came as the police stepped up patrols in Jewish neighborhoods and stationed officers in front of synagogues and yeshivas across New York and New Jersey. On Monday, new details emerged about the man accused of stabbing five Jewish people at a Hanukkah celebration in the New York suburbs when federal prosecutors filed hate crime charges against him.
In the criminal complaint, the authorities revealed evidence that could suggest the motivations of Grafton Thomas, who they say went on a bloody rampage on Saturday at the house in Monsey, N.Y., a hamlet northwest of New York City with a large community of ultra-Orthodox Jews. These details, according to a criminal complaint, could suggest what led the man, Grafton Thomas, to go on a bloody rampage on Saturday in Monsey, N.Y., a hamlet northwest of New York City with a large community of ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Officials said they had found handwritten journals at Mr. Thomas’s home in which he expressed anti-Semitic views, including references to Adolf Hitler and “Nazi culture,” and drawings of a Star of David and a swastika, according to the complaint. The charges against Mr. Thomas came as police departments across New York and New Jersey stepped up patrols in Jewish neighborhoods and dispatched officers in front of synagogues and yeshivas.
The complaint, signed by an F.B.I. special agent, Julie S. Brown, also said that officials had searched Mr. Thomas’s phone, which showed that he had looked online for the phrase “Why did Hitler hate the Jews” four times in the last month. The complaint was filed in Federal District Court in White Plains, N.Y., by the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Thomas, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, appeared in court shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
He also searched for “German Jewish Temples near me,” and “Zionist Temples” in Elizabeth, N.J., and in Staten Island in recent weeks, the complaint said. “Are you clear in your head?” Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison asked him.
On Saturday, the complaint said, Mr. Thomas’s phone browser was used to call up an article titled “New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here’s What to Know.” “Not clear, your honor,” said Mr. Thomas, who added that he needed rest.
The complaint was filed in Federal District Court in White Plains, N.Y., by the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Thomas was expected to appear in court on Monday afternoon. Mr. Thomas’s family has said that he has a long history of mental illness, including schizophrenia.
Mr. Thomas’s family said on Sunday that he had a long history of mental illness, including schizophrenia. But prosecutors, in the complaint, suggested that Mr. Thomas, who is from the nearby village of Greenwood Lake, N.Y., had a history of anti-Semitism. In one piece of writing, he used a phrase that investigators said appeared to reference the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a fringe religious movement with offshoots that have been described as hate groups.
The assault in Monsey further rattled the Jewish community in the New York region, which was already reeling from a series of anti-Semitic incidents in New York City last week and a mass shooting in Jersey City, N.J., that targeted a kosher supermarket and left three people, including two Hasidic Jews, dead earlier in the month. The assault in Monsey further rattled the Jewish community in the New York region after a series of anti-Semitic incidents in New York City last week and a deadly mass shooting in Jersey City, N.J., that targeted a kosher supermarket earlier in the month.
“We will keep the Jewish community safe, and we have a zero tolerance when it comes to hate crimes in New York City,” New York City’s police commissioner, Dermot F. Shea, said on Monday in an interview on “CBS This Morning.” In an interview on Monday morning on NPR, the public radio network, Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the recent attacks: “We consider this a crisis. Really, there is a growing anti-Semitism problem in this whole country. It has taken a more and more violent form.”
In an interview on Monday morning on NPR, the public radio network, Mayor Bill de Blasio said of the attacks: “We consider this a crisis. Really, there is a growing anti-Semitism problem in this whole country. It has taken a more and more violent form.” In Rockland County, where the attack on Saturday took place, the county executive, Ed Day, announced on Monday that a private security firm would work with the police to provide armed guards to synagogues in Monsey.
Mr. de Blasio added that he had directed city schools to undertake an “intensified curriculum” focused on anti-Semitism when classes resume on Thursday. The goal, he said during the interview, was to teach young people that attacks motivated out of hate or ignorance bred only more violence.
In Rockland County, where the Saturday attack took place, the county executive, Ed Day, announced on Monday that a private security firm would work with the police to provide armed guards to synagogues in Monsey.
“We cannot stand around and do nothing,” Mr. Day said. “We are taking proactive action in order to address the concerns, the fears that are out there.”“We cannot stand around and do nothing,” Mr. Day said. “We are taking proactive action in order to address the concerns, the fears that are out there.”
Rockland County has more than 300,000 people, and 31 percent of the population is Jewish, according to the state. It is believed to have one of the largest populations of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside of Israel.Rockland County has more than 300,000 people, and 31 percent of the population is Jewish, according to the state. It is believed to have one of the largest populations of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside of Israel.
In recent years, the area’s ultra-Orthodox population has grown as Hasidic families from the city, priced out of their neighborhoods, have relocated there. Despite the distance, the communities in both the city and suburbs retain close ties. In recent years, the area’s ultra-Orthodox population has grown as Hasidic families from New York City, priced out of their neighborhoods, have relocated there. Despite the distance, residents in both places retain close ties with one another.
The barrage of incidents left the community feeling particularly under siege as it observed Hanukkah, a celebration of a time long ago when Jews had defied external aggressors to openly practice their faith. The barrage of incidents has left Jewish neighborhoods feeling under siege during Hanukkah, a celebration of when Jews had defied aggressors to openly practice their faith.
“People are afraid to send their kids out to school,” said Benny Polatseck, 30, an Orthodox Jewish community activist who lives in Monsey. “There is real angst.” “People are afraid to send their kids out to school,” said Benny Polatseck, 30, an Orthodox Jewish community activist who lives in Monsey.
Four Orthodox Jewish elected officials, in a letter sent to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Sunday, went further. The five victims of the attack at the home of the rabbi, Chaim Rottenberg, were taken to the hospital. Several were treated there and released. At least one victim remained in the hospital with a skull fracture, officials said.
“It is no longer safe to be identifiably Orthodox in the State of New York,” they wrote. “We cannot shop, walk down the street, send our children to school, or even worship in peace.” Mr. Thomas, 38, was later arrested in Harlem, about 30 miles from Monsey, with blood on his clothes, officials said. According to the complaint, officers found both a machete and a bloody knife in his car.
The five victims of the attack at the home of the rabbi, Chaim Rottenberg, were taken to the hospital. Four of them were treated there and released. As of Sunday afternoon, one remained there with a skull fracture, officials said. On Sunday, Mr. Thomas pleaded not guilty to five counts of state charges of attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary. In federal case, Mr. Thomas was charged on Monday with five counts — the attempted murder of each his five victims as they exercised their religious beliefs.
Mr. Thomas, 38, was later arrested in Harlem, about 30 miles from Monsey, with blood on his clothes, officials said. According to the federal complaint, officers found both a machete and a bloody knife in the car. Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Mr. Thomas had “targeted his victims in the midst of a religious ceremony, transforming a joyous Hanukkah celebration into a scene of carnage and pain.”
On Sunday, Mr. Thomas pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary. If convicted on any of the counts, Mr. Thomas faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, federal prosecutors said. Under the law, if any of the victims dies as a result of his injuries, Mr. Thomas could face the death penalty.
A statement issued on Sunday night by a lawyer, Michael Sussman, in the name of the family said Mr. Thomas “had a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations” and “no known history of anti-Semitism.” The federal case is expected to take place before any state case, prosecutors said.
The federal complaint did not provide dates of Mr. Thomas’s journal entries, but it said he had searched online for pages expressing anti-Semitic sentiments as early as Nov. 9. Mr. Thomas’s lawyer, Michael H. Sussman, told reporters at a news conference on Monday that he had asked the Rockland County district attorney to agree to have Mr. Thomas undergo a 30-day evaluation in a hospital.
According to the complaint, one statement in his journals suggested that he had been influenced by the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a religious group to which officials also linked one of the attackers in the Jersey City shooting. Mr. Sussman said that earlier in the day, Mr. Thomas told him that a voice, or voices, in his head had commanded him to go to that location in Monsey and retrieve or destroy a piece of property.
“My impression is that the situation he found where he went in was not the situation he expected to find, and that may have been a trigger for him,” Mr. Sussman said at his office in Goshen, N.Y., flanked by Mr. Thomas’s mother, Kim Thomas, who is a nurse, and the family’s pastor, the Rev. Wendy Paige.
Mr. Sussman said Mr. Thomas suffered from psychosis and major depressive disorder, and had been prescribed several drugs.
Mr. Thomas had never spoken to either his mother or pastor about Jews or anti-Semitism, the lawyer and Ms. Paige said.
But prosecutors said in the federal complaint that investigators had found handwritten journals at Mr. Thomas’s home in which he expressed anti-Semitic views.
On one page, he questioned why people “mourned for anti-Semitism when there is Semitic genocide,” the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Mr. Thomas also appeared to make a reference to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a religious group to which officials also linked one of the attackers in the Jersey City shooting.
While the movement is not known for promoting violence, some of its offshoots have been described as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which track extremist organizations.While the movement is not known for promoting violence, some of its offshoots have been described as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which track extremist organizations.
Officials have not linked the Monsey stabbing and the Jersey City shooting, and they have not established whether Mr. Thomas was part of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Officials have not linked the stabbings and the Jersey City shooting, and they have not established whether Mr. Thomas was a follower of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.
On Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said he had ordered the State Police’s hate crimes force to investigate the rampage. The federal complaint also said Mr. Thomas had made online search queries suggesting anti-Semitic views as early as Nov. 9. In recent weeks, it said, he searched for “German Jewish Temples near me,” and “Zionist Temples” in Elizabeth, N.J., and in Staten Island.
The governor also called the Monsey stabbings an “act of domestic terrorism,” the phrase that officials eventually used to describe the Jersey City shooting. On the day of the stabbings, Mr. Thomas’s phone browser was used to call up an article titled “New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here’s What to Know,” the complaint said.
In their letter to Mr. Cuomo, the four Orthodox Jewish elected officials urged him to declare a state of emergency. They asked him to deploy the New York National Guard to protect Jewish enclaves across the state and to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate anti-Semitic violence. Mr. Cuomo said on Sunday that he had ordered the State Police’s hate crimes force to investigate the rampage. He also called the attack an “act of domestic terrorism,” the phrase that officials eventually used to describe the Jersey City shooting.
As of Sunday, New York City had seen a 23 percent rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes so far this year, according to police data.As of Sunday, New York City had seen a 23 percent rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes so far this year, according to police data.
Since the attack in Jersey City on Dec. 10, the New York Police Department had been deploying more officers to protect synagogues, Mr. Shea, the police commissioner, said. Over the weekend, it stepped up patrols in three Brooklyn neighborhoods after what officials called an “alarming” increase in incidents last week. Since the attack in Jersey City on Dec. 10, the New York Police Department had been deploying more officers to protect synagogues, the police commissioner, Dermot F. Shea, said.
After the Monsey attack, the city’s Police Department said it was adding four to six officers per shift, who will focus on houses of worship and community events. After further anti-Semitic incidents, including the stabbings in Monsey, the department also stepped up patrols in some Brooklyn neighborhoods.
The department is also installing additional security cameras in the three Brooklyn communities and installing six more light towers in one of them. Kevin Armstrong, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Rebecca Liebson and Ali Watkins contributed reporting.
Mr. Cuomo also ordered the State Police to increase patrols in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods across the state.
“We should be celebrating this week,” Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said on Sunday. “Celebrating life. Not commemorating the loss of life and the attack on life.”
Rebecca Liebson and Ali Watkins contributed reporting.