A car repeatedly slammed into the front of the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn on Wednesday night, triggering a hate crime investigation and a citywide security response, according to New York officials. No one was hurt and the driver was quickly taken into custody outside the prominent Hasidic Jewish site in Crown Heights, reports CNN. Around 9pm, a gray Honda pulled into the building's driveway and rammed a set of doors multiple times, eventually knocking one door off its hinges, video from the scene shows. Two bystanders cautiously approached before officers arrived.
The suspect, wearing a jacket, shorts, and boots, exited the car and, according to police, told the crowd, "It slipped!" Authorities have not released his name; they say he is cooperating and has told investigators the crash was not an intentional attack. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the NYPD's bomb squad searched the vehicle and found no explosives, and she was not aware of any weapons being recovered. Still, the incident is being probed as a possible hate crime amid a series of recent antisemitic attacks in New York, including a December stabbing in Crown Heights and a more recent incident where swastikas were spray-painted at a Brooklyn playground.
The crash came on the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's selection as Chabad's leader, a date that drew "thousands of people" to the headquarters, reports ABC News. Yaacov Behrman, Chabad's public relations head, said he believes the timing was deliberate and that rabbinical students had spoken with the suspect about the gathering about an hour before the ramming. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the episode "deeply alarming," given the synagogue's historic role and global significance, and said any threat to Jewish institutions will be treated with utmost seriousness. Attorney General Letitia James said her office is working with the NYPD on the case.
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