Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on December 10, 2014

A crime scene investigator, center, passes a member of the Lubavitch community as he enters Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic headquarters on Tuesday. Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP

A man who stabbed a Jewish student in the side of the head in a prominent New York synagogue was shot dead by police after lunging at officers with a nine-inch blade.

Calvin Peters can be seen in a dramatic video obtained by the New York Post, where onlookers in the basement of the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyns Crown Heights neighborhood ask the suspect to put the knife down while an officer points his gun at the man.

The standoff took place after the 49-year-old man reportedly entered the synagogue at about 2am, asked for a Bible, walked out, and returned to stab a 22-year-old student in the side of the head, according to the Post. The student was conscious but bleeding profusely.

According to witnesses, the attacker repeatedly said Kill the Jews, Chaim Landa, a spokeswoman for Chabad Lubavitch, told the Associated Press. A lawyer for Peters family told the AP he had a history of bi-polar disorder.

Calvin Peters was a loving and devoted father, Jeffrey A St Clair said. And the family is quite frankly shocked and disappointed at what happened. Our prayers go out to the person that was injured. But we really ask that you respect our privacy and allow them to grieve.

The incident began around 1.40am; an officer on foot patrol in the neighborhood was flagged by a bystander and told that the man had already stabbed someone.

Inside the synagogue basement, the video shows an officer pointing his gun at the man as he holds a knife, and several Hasidic men ask the man to put the knife down, or set it on the table.

You gonna shoot me? You gonna shoot me, yo? the man with the knife asks an officer.

If you dont drop the knife I will, he says, as onlookers urge the armed man to, Put the knife [down], put the knife, put the knife.

Excerpt from:

New York police fatally shoot man who stabbed student in synagogue

Category: Hasidic
Tags: