A horrifying video was released Saturday showing a masked man trying to rip a 6-year-old Hasidic Jewish boy from his father's arms as they walked together on the sidewalk in broad daylight.
The boy's father was walking hand-in-hand with his two sons on the sidewalk in Crown Heights around 3:30 p.m. when a masked assailant wearing a blue and white letterman jacket approached the family and snatched the boy. Ta.
The would-be kidnapper, who appeared to be over 6 feet tall, hoisted the child into the air, and the father quickly pulled the child back from his arms.
The Orthodox Jewish man then punched the masked man in the stomach.
The attacker fled on foot, and no injuries were reported, police officials said.
The investigation is ongoing and the 71st Precinct is responding. No arrests have been made at this time.
A representative from Shomrim, a private police force serving New York City's Jewish community, said no words were exchanged between the attacker and the victim before or during the attack.
It is unclear why the man targeted the child.
“This video is shocking,” Chabad spokesperson Yaacov Behrman wrote. In the post of X.
“There's obviously something going on in Crown Heights. We've had one incident after another in the last two weeks,” he added.
Crown Heights, a major population center for New York's ultra-Orthodox community, is no stranger to unprovoked violent attacks.
Yeshiel Dabrowskin, a Jewish man, was stabbed in the abdomen and suffered internal bleeding in August after the crazed beast shouted “Liberate Palestine” and attacked him violently.
The suspect, Vincent Sumpter, 22, was arrested on $100,000 bail.
