New City, NY – Three incendiary devices went off outside two rabbis’ homes near a Jewish religious center that lead to a small fire late Tuesday night.
The series of small explosions occurred around 10:30 p.m. near the Chabad Lubavitch of Rockland, at 315 N. Main St., Rabbi Avremel Kotlarsky said. Kotlarsky, the rabbi at the Chabad, said he found a firecracker wrapper in his yard, but wasn’t sure exactly what caused the explosions.
Although no one was injured, Kotlarsky described the explosions as “coordinated” and a “premeditated hate crime.”
“The intent seemed to be that it was clear, whether they were looking to frighten, or looking to terrorize, or intimidate,” Kotlarsky said.
That evening, a group of about 15 people were gathered in the quarters of associate Rabbi Simcha Morgenstern, located in a two-family structure at the Jewish religious center on Phillips Hill Road.
“All of a sudden, we heard an explosion outside,” Kotlarsky said.
Kotlarsky said he believed some sort of firecracker was thrown near
Morgenstern’s residence, which exploded under one of the vehicles parked in the
driveway.
“It sounded like a boom — like
a sonic boom,” he said.
None of the congregants saw anyone fleeing from the residence, Kotlarsky
said.
Minutes later, Kotlarsky’s 19-year-old daughter heard that initial
explosion from inside their Tarry Hill Drive home located a few hundred feet
away from the Jewish religious center.
According to police, an unidentified female resident at the Tarry Hill
Drive home said that she saw four white
males, possibly teenagers, running west outside of her home. One of the males
threw a firework toward the front of her residence, police said.
The firework exploded next to a tree, catching it on fire. The males
fled west on Phillips Hill Road.
Clarkstown police responded, as well as the New City fire department.
The small fire was extinguished by the New City fire department, police
said.
Kotlarsky said his home was not damaged.
The explosions were described as fireworks by police, but the
investigation remains ongoing.
“This is a case right now that
we’re looking at as fireworks going off,”
Clarkstown police said.
Supervisor George Hoehmann strongly condemned the attacks and called
them “troubling.” He added that Clarkstown and the police were doing
“everything in our power to fully investigate this quickly.”
“Violence like this and
incidents of this nature are repugnant and will not be tolerated in
Clarkstown,” Hoehmann said.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day denounced the incidents in a released
statement.
“There is no place for hate in
our community,” Day said. “We condemn this apparent hate crime in the strongest
terms possible.”
Penny Jennings, Rockland’s commissioner of human rights, said in a
released statement that she will convene a meeting of the county’s Interfaith
Council in order to “deepen community relationships.”
Kotlarsky said he believed the homes were targeted, because both he and
Morgenstern were the only two rabbis living in the area.
“I think that is shows a level
of intolerance and discrimination” he said.
