A Hasidic man walks by a police car in a Jewish Orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn, April 24, 2017. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(New York Jewish Week) — A man who was arrested in Penn Station in 2022 while preparing to carry out a terror attack against Jewish New Yorkers was sentenced to 10 years in state prison on Wednesday.
Christopher Brown, 23, had traveled to New York City after posting antisemitic messages on social media. Brown was arrested at Penn Station on Nov. 18, 2022, along with Matthew Mahrer, with whom he had planned to carry out an attack and to whom he had paid $650 to buy a firearm in Pennsylvania.
After the arrest, police found a knife, a swastika armband and a ski mask in Brown’s backpack.
In September, Brown pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree as a crime of terrorism. It is a Class B felony.
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called the sentence “a significant prison term” and added, “I know that the Jewish community in Manhattan is continuing to face rising antisemitism and violent threats, and I want everyone to know that we are using every tool possible in coordination with our law enforcement partners to keep them safe.”
The attack had been thwarted in part thanks to a tip from the Community Security Initiative, a local Jewish security agency. The group discovered threatening posts by Brown on Twitter, and brought that information to law enforcement.
On the platform, Brown had expressed intent to “shoot up a synagogue,” saying, “This time I’m really gonna do it,” court records and the district attorney’s office said.
Mitch Silber, the director of CSI, said Brown’s sentencing “underscores the critical importance of vigilance and collaboration in protecting our communities.”
“While justice has been served, this case serves as a stark reminder of the persistent threats our community faces,” Silber said in a Wednesday statement.
Brown also expressed support for Nazism, and considered getting a swastika tattoo over his heart, the district attorney’s office said. He also indicated a desire to imitate the 2019 white supremacist mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Brown’s co-defendant, Matthew Mahrer, is Jewish and the descendant of a Holocaust survivor. Mahrer’s attorney has said that he would not want to harm his own people. His case is still pending.
Brown’s sentencing comes amid a surge in antisemitic hate crimes since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The rate of anti-Jewish attacks has abated somewhat in recent months compared to a year ago, but Jews remain the group most targeted in hate crimes in New York City.
Not every hate crime reported to police results in an arrest or prosecution. The legal standard for proving bias is high, making prosecution difficult. Lengthy prison sentences like Brown’s are rare.
In a separate case, a man who allegedly demanded that “Zionists” identify themselves and leave a crowded subway car in June had some of his charges dismissed in the Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday. That incident took place on the same day as an anti-Israel protest of an exhibit commemorating the Nova music festival massacre.
Anas Saleh, 24, had been charged with coercion and attempted coercion for the incident. Those charges were dismissed, but a charge of disorderly conduct remains. Under New York law, coercion involves a person forcing another to do something against their will, usually under threat.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office expressed disappointment with the decision to drop the coercion charges.
“Manhattan must be a safe and welcoming space for the Jewish community, and this alleged conduct contributed to the climate of fear that many Jewish New Yorkers currently feel on a daily basis,” a spokesperson said. “We are disappointed with this decision and reviewing our legal options.”
Saleh is scheduled to stand trial in January.
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