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Surveillance cameras in Brooklyn captured a man using a fire extinguisher to assault two Jewish men in separate incidents at 6 a.m. on Sunday, August 21, 2022.
The New York Daily News reported on Monday (August 22, 2022) that after releasing the footage, the NYPD outlined that the Brooklyn attacks were in close proximity to each other.
Both victims were Hasidic Jews whose religions were easily identifiable due to their traditional clothing, raising suspicions that these were anti-semitic hate crimes.
A man can be seen walking up behind the 72-year-old victim and spraying him with the fire extinguisher before fleeing the scene in the first video. The second video shows a 66-year-old victim walking down the street when the same suspect appears behind him and repeats the action. Neither men were injured.
On a separate security camera, the suspect, believed to be a teen, can be seen walking through Brooklyn with a group of friends.
The Brooklyn fire extinguisher attacks
As per CBS, the 72-year-old victim, who chose to remain anonymous, described the assault from his perspective.
Trigger Warning: Viewer Discretion is advised
He said:
“One guy ran after me and he started to spray. I tried to walk as fast as I can.”
The elderly victim's son told the outlet that he is certain this was an anti-Semitic attack. He said:
“It was not only my father. It was another Jewish guy like two minutes after his attack. Definitely it’s a hate crime."
In a June press release, Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov condemned what she called a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn. She claimed that several Jewish people, including students and the elderly, had been harassed and assaulted. She had said:
“When it comes to Jews, do Jewish lives matter?”
The AMHCA, a Jewish advocacy group, documented over 150 harassment incidents against Jewish people in New York City in a report. According to Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Anti-Semitism, crimes against Jewish people are rampant in New York City.
Hikind said:
"Something is wrong. We're not doing it right. We're not dealing with it in a way where it makes a difference. But people are afraid. There are real victims who live with the attacks upon them every single day. We're just going to continue talking about this and nothing is going to change unless we wake up."
As of now, the suspect in the fire extinguisher assault has not been identified. The case is currently being investigated by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.
