A 23-year-old man, Armani Charles, has been charged with a hate crime following a stabbing near a Jewish Center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. According to ABC7NY, Charles faces charges including attempted assault and aggravated harassment. Authorities say he allegedly made antisemitic remarks and stabbed a man, identified as Elias Rosner, after a verbal dispute escalated into violence.
The New York Post reports that Charles allegedly made antisemitic statements, including declaring an intent to harm a Jewish person, shortly before attacking Rosner outside a Lubavitch Hasidic temple. The incident took place on Kingston Avenue near Lincoln Place, just blocks from the Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters, during the third night of Hanukkah.
Rosner was treated at Kings County Hospital and released shortly after being stabbed in the chest, with the wound narrowly missing his heart. He told The New York Post that he was the only person who met Charles’s gaze, viewing it as confronting a bully. Rosner’s martial arts training and the quick use of his sweater to shield himself from the blade helped absorb much of the force and were credited with preventing more serious injury.
After a nearly week-long manhunt, Charles was arrested and charged with multiple offenses. The NYPD increased its presence in the historically Jewish neighborhood following the attack. In a statement reported by The New York Post, Rosner stated that 305 of the 550 hate crimes recorded this year involved Jewish individuals or property.
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