Police Shoot, Kill Man Who Stabbed Israeli Student At Brooklyn Synagogue

An Israeli student was stabbed and injured by a man in a synagogue in Brooklyn early on Tuesday, according to media reports. The attacker, believed to be a homeless person, was shot and killed by police officers at the scene of the crime after he refused to put down his knife.

The victim, Levi Rosenblatt, 22, was stabbed in the neck but his injuries are not life-threatening, according to media reports. Although it is not immediately clear why the man was stabbed, a spokesperson for the synagogue, which is the headquarters of the Hasidic movement in New York, reportedly said that the attack was not a hate crime.

“Most likely it is not a hate crime,” Mony Ender, the deputy spokesperson for the Chabad Lubavitch movement, told CNN. “The assailant was not running amok. He stabbed one person, with an ordinary kitchen knife, although he could have attacked many more people who were there.”

A cell phone video, allegedly showing the incident, was posted online by the Israeli news site 0404. The video showed the officer repeatedly asking the attacker to drop the knife. The attacker, however, lunged at the officer, who shot him once in the upper body.