Masked Black Man Snatches Infant from his Father in Crown Heights

Photo Credit: Google Maps

770 Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights, Brooklyn

Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, member of Community Board 9 in Crown Heights, NY, and a PR
Man for Chabad Lubavitch, posted the video below early Sunday morning, commenting: “This video is shocking. A perpetrator grabbed a Chassidic child who was walking with his father today at approximately 3:30 PM on Kingston near Lefferts Ave.”

Behrman added: “Something is clearly going on in Crown Heights—there has been incident after incident over the past two weeks.”

This video is shocking. A perpetrator grabbed a Chasidic child who was walking with his father today at approximately 3:30pm on Kingston near Lefferts Ave.

Something is clearly going on in Crown Heights—there have been incident after incident over the past two weeks.… pic.twitter.com/7nIkZWhssk

— Yaacov Behrman (@ChabadLubavitch) November 10, 2024

Surveillance footage captured the harrowing moment as an assailant lunged toward the young child, attempting to seize and drag him away. In a swift response, the boy’s father, an Orthodox Jew, managed to pull his son to safety, warding off the attacker.

A representative for Shomrim, York City’s Jewish neighborhood watch, stated that no words were exchanged between the assailant and his victims before or during the attack.

Shomrim reported that through close collaboration with the NYPD’s 71st Precinct, authorities successfully identified and apprehended the suspect.

The incident adds to a disturbing string of recent attacks targeting Jews in Brooklyn, fueling heightened concerns over antisemitic violence in the community. In a particularly severe case, a Jewish man was hospitalized with serious injuries following an assault that the police are investigating as a hate crime. According to authorities, the attacker, concealed by a face covering, shouted antisemitic slurs at the victim before slashing his face with a knife near the intersection of Flatbush and Lafayette Streets.

Rabbi Behrman reported last Wednesday that “A Chasidic man was beaten in Crown Heights tonight near Utica and President at approximately 7:30 PM. The assailants, one wearing a mask, demanded the victim’s phone, but when he refused, they chased him and beat him. The victim is in excruciating pain and is currently in the emergency room. The police are investigating the incident. The victim is in his mid-50s.”