Man Who Stabbed Jewish Worshipper In New York Synagogue Shouted ‘I Will Kill The Jew’

The 49-year-old man who entered a New York synagogue today and stabbed a Jewish worshipper in the neck has succumbed to a gunshot wound he sustained during a standoff with police in which he refused to drop the knife he was carrying.

Calvin Peters, who reportedly entered the Chabad House synagogue in New York and stabbed a worshipper, shouting, “I will kill the Jew! I want to kill the Jew!” died at Kings County Hospital at 3:15 a.m., police said.

The victim of the anti-Semitic stabbing, 22-year-old Levi Rosenviat, is reported to be in a serious but stable condition, also at the Kings County Hospital.

The New York Daily News reported that Rosenviat only arrived in Brooklyn two weeks ago to study at the synagogue, and following the random and brutal attack was on the ground begging other worshippers for help.

An eyewitness told reporters, “I went over to the floor, I saw the teenager on the floor, his hair was blood. He was saying ‘save me.'”

Meanwhile, another worshipper at the synagogue said he saw Peters an hour before the attack, in the main hall of the building, “He was looking around, He asked for a book. He looked not so much crazy, but different,” he said.

But when Peters returned an hour later, his demeanour was quite different, as he had anger in his voice and was armed with a knife, “I never thought it would happen in New York,” the witness told The News. “These things don’t need to happen.”

At the same time, Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Motti Seligson said synagogue officials would continue to cooperate with police in their investigation into the incident, “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,” Seligson said in a statement.

It’s not clear exactly what the mental state of Peters was at the time of the attack, although from the video clip of the incident itself, which you can view below, police were clearly faced with a dangerous man, who was not in his right mind.