Guns, ammo found in home of Massachusetts man accused of threatening synagogues
BEVERLY - A Beverly man is in custody, facing charges of making antisemitic threats and illegally possessing guns and ammunition. Members of the Beverly Jewish community are now fearing for their safety.
On Thursday, police arrested 34-year-old Matthew Scouras. He is charged with making numerous antisemitic threats online and multiple firearm violations. Police say he used an internet image board encouraging others to rape Jewish women and to shoot people outside of synagogues.
"He was making threats to the Jewish community, in regards to taking action, violence towards synagogues and to Jewish females," Detective Captain Michael Devlin said.
Guns, ammunition, cash found inside home
Beverly police say they received a tip from the FBI on January 2 about comments and numerous threats Scouras allegedly posted online.
When officers entered Scouras' Essex Street home, they said they found a Nazi flag, a 9mm Glock "ghost gun" with no serial number, boxes of ammunition, three large-capacity rifle magazines, 11 lower receivers for various rifles, other firearm parts, scopes, pistol frames, a jig used for drilling holes into polymer pistol handles, rifle stocks, and more than $70,000 in cash.
Scouras was taken into custody and is currently being held without bail. He is undergoing a mental health evaluation.
"It was a critical juncture. This investigation proved to be very fruitful in to stopping any ill intentions that the party had," Devlin said.
Jewish community taking precautions
Rabbi Mendel Barber says the Jewish community is not surprised by the threat. He says he's seen a spike in antisemitism in recent years but is thankful for the FBI and Beverly police for doing something about it.
"Was able to track him, followed him and went into his house and were able to find everything that was in there which otherwise wouldn't have been known," Rabbi Barber said.
Eli and Dina Davidyan have been living in Beverly for decades. They're originally from Israel. Dina's mom is a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor. "The feeling that somebody is out there for us is always there. The only thing that to find that it's my next neighbor, that's terrible," Dina said.
Rabbi Barber said the Jewish community will come together Tuesday night to discuss the situation. The threat will cause them to take extra precaution.
"Any of our events, or anytime we gather for prayer or whatever it may be, we have the security details," Rabbi Barber said. "We're putting up cameras."
Scouras will be back in court on Jan. 13.
