De Blasio To Jewish Leaders: Police Will Remain Vigilant After Stabbing
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio met with Jewish community leaders Thursday, with an assurance that police would remain vigilant in the wake of the stabbing at a Brooklyn synagogue.
Police have increased security at the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters, at 770 Eastern Pkwy. in Crown Heights, after a mentally ill man stabbed a rabbinical student Levi Rosenblatt, 22, in the head early Tuesday.
The suspect – Calvin Peters, 49 – was shot and killed by police soon afterward.
"There was tremendous appreciation for the work of the NYPD; for the way our officers protected lives of people who were threatened so suddenly a few days ago," de Blasio said of the meeting with Jewish leaders on Thursday. "There was deep concern, obviously, for Mr. Rosenblatt, and our prayers are with him in and his family, and thank God he has been making good progress."
De Blasio said he and NYPD Chie of Department James O'Neill both emphasized that police would be vigilant.
"The clear message in the room was a desire to know that there would be ongoing vigilance in what is a very complicated situation around the world right now, and Chief O'Neill and I made very clear our focus on responding anytime there is an incident that causes concern in this community with clear and vigilant response by the NYPD," the mayor said.
He noted that Peters was "one very troubled individual with serious mental health issues," but there was still concern about a possible future threat given that it targeted the Jewish community in a house of worship.
"I think if this incident had occurred in a store, for example, and not a synagogue, people might respond different. I think if it occurred in an atmosphere; a world we hope to see someday soon where there were never any attacks on Jewish community locations, I think we might feel differently," de Blasio said.
He noted that there have been numerous attacks on synagogues and targeting Jews just in recent months.
"Remember that just weeks ago, there was an attack in a synagogue in Jerusalem, and there have been attacks in other locations in western countries," de Blasio said. "And I think there's a heightened sensitivity and a fair sensitivity after having seen that, and certainly the sense for any of us that a house of worship was invaded violently – even if it was an absolutely isolated act by a mentally disturbed individual."
In video of the incident posted online, Peters can be seen holding a knife in his right hand while surrounded by bystanders and officers with weapons drawn telling him to drop the knife.
Peters can be seen yelling at bystanders, asking one man in the video, "Want me to kill you?"
At one point, Peters puts the knife down on a table and NYPD Officer Timothy Donohue holsters his gun. But moments later, Peters grabbed the knife again and starts to walk around the room as officers yell at him repeatedly to drop the knife.
That was when he lunged at one of the cops and Officer Roberto Pagan fired one shot, hitting Peters in the torso, police said.
Video shows Peters lying on the ground alive as officers put him in handcuffs. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Rosenblatt, who was stabbed in the left temple, was taken to the hospital and was in serious but stable condition. He remained at Bellevue Hospital Center on Thursday night.
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