New York, NY – Two yeshiva students may have been targeted in a bottle throwing incident that took place last week in Manhattan and is being investigated by the NYPD as a possible hate crime.
Police told VIN News that they responded to a report of criminal mischief at the intersection of 9th Avenue and 37th Streets at 1:37 PM last Friday afternoon. Several complainants told police that a man, who may have been intoxicated, threw a bottle containing alcohol at a group of people, which included two yeshiva students.
The man reportedly shouted, “I will kill you!” as he threw the bottle at the group. Witnesses told police that they saw what appeared to be a flash as the bottle hit the ground, but despite reports that the bottle burst into flames upon impact, police said that the contents of the bottle did not ignite.
According to Barry Sugar of the Jewish Leadership Council, the bottle landed just inches away from Yosef Rachmi and Yisroel Gadafi, both 20 years old. Both were known to frequent the area on Friday afternoons, greeting Jewish business owners each week and encouraging them to perform a mitzvah, and one witness told the two that the bottle had clearly been aimed at them.
No arrests have been made yet in the ongoing investigation.
As reported by Vos Iz Neias