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New York police shot and killed a man armed with a knife, after he stabbed a rabbinical student from Israel in the head in a Brooklyn synagogue, police and the synagogue say. Jillian Kitchener reports.
Video provided by Reuters Newslook
A member of the Lubavitch community, center, leaves the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic headquarters on Dec. 9 in New York. A knife-wielding man stabbed an Israeli student inside the Brooklyn synagogue before being fatally shot by police after he refused to drop the knife.(Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP)
Police presence was increased at places of worship across New York City on Tuesday after a man burst into a Brooklyn synagogue yelling "Kill the Jews!" and stabbing a rabbinical student, police said.
The suspect was fatally shot by a police officer in a tense standoff caught on amateur video.
"This was an isolated incident that appears to involve an individual known to the police department, who has a history of being emotionally disturbed," NYPD spokesman John Miller said. "That said, given the concern that the news of the story might bring to other houses of worship in the city... you will see some enhanced coverage in terms of police presence."
A witness recorded parts of the police standoff on a cellphone. The chilling video shows Calvin Peters, 49, refusing an officer's repeated order to "drop the ------- knife." Seconds later one gunshot is heard. Police said no other shots were fired.
Levi Rosenblat, 22, was hospitalized in stable condition with a wound from a 9-inch knife with a 4.5-inch blade, police said.
Israel Gottdenger, 26, told The New York Post he entered the building with Peters.
"It's a very public building and people of all kinds are always walking in, white, black, everyone," Gottdenger said. But soon "he was just going crazy. He said 'I want to sit down, I want to get a Bible, who wants to die tonight,' he kept changing his words. He was either really high on drugs or (emotionally disturbed)."
Rabbi Motti Seligson of Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic world headquarters in Crown Heights described police as "heroic." According to witnesses, Peters was heard saying repeatedly "Kill the Jews," said Chaim Landa, a spokeswoman for Chabad-Lubavitch. Several other people immediately intervened, Landa said.
After the stabbing, witness flagged down a patrol officer, who confronted Peters and told him to put the knife down. More officers soon responded. The video picks up with the officers aiming guns at the man.
Peters several times chides the officers: "You gonna shoot me?!" The officer responds, "If you don't drop the knife I will."
Peters puts down the knife, then picks it back up as the officer shouts "Stay the ---- away from the knife now!"
The man is seen pacing with the knife, but the actual shooting is not seen on the video recorded on a witness's phone. James O'Neil, NYPD's chief of department, said Peters "advanced on the officer" and was shot once in the torso.
The man was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Peters had a history of mental illness and had been arrested 19 times since 1982, most recently in 2006 for drugs, police said. He had also been to the Chabad-Lubavitch before, which is open to the public at all hours.
"While we are very pained by everything that has unfolded, we are very grateful to the police for their quick response and are working closely with the authorities in their ongoing investigation," said Seligson in a statement. "We commend the heroic efforts of the individuals who were present and took immediate action. If not for their intervention, the outcome could have been, God forbid, far worse. We continue to pray for the young man who is in stable condition."
Contributing: Associated Press
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