Man made threats at Minneapolis' Temple Israel, charges say
MINNEAPOLIS — A 21-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection to a string of threats at Temple Israel in Minneapolis.
He was charged on Monday with three felony counts of threats of violence, along with one misdemeanor count of assault in Hennepin County.
According to the criminal complaint, the man was walking through the parking lot at Temple Israel on Sept. 9 while drinking a beverage from a bottle. As he walked out of sight, temple security heard glass break, and found a bottle of beer against the playground wall. When a guard tried to get the man's attention, he turned and flipped them off.
A short while later, another security guard went up to the man and asked why he broke the beer bottle. The defendant flipped them off, and said "I'll shoot your a**," charges said.
The next day, the charges describe a similar incident in which the man threw a glass bottle into the temple's parking lot. When a security guard asked him to throw beer bottles in the trash and not on temple property, he allegedly threw the bottle at the guard's head, documents say. The man approached the guard, who used pepper spray to ward him off, the charges say.
Roughly 10 minutes later, Temple Israel security learned that someone had called the building and made reference to the pepper spray incident. The caller then made multiple statements including "you f******," "gonna shoot you up" and "coming for you," charges state.
According to documents, Temple Israel security saw the man standing across the street from the building, possibly holding a handgun on Oct. 3. Security reported him to Minneapolis police, who arrested him the next day.
In a post-Miranda interview, the man admitted to making several calls to Temple Israel, documents say. He also described an incident where he threw a rock and a bottle and was maced. He added that he had no issue with the Jewish community or faith, but does have issue with the security guards, the charges say.
The man is in custody.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara announced Saturday, the day after the man was arrested, that Minneapolis will add extra security detail near synagogues ahead of the Jewish holy days and Oct. 7, which marks one year since the Hamas attack on Israel.
"While the evidence available at this time does not suggest that this crime was motivated by bias against the Jewish community, every member of our community deserves to feel safe," said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.
Note: The above video first aired on Oct. 5, 2024