Man charged with hate crimes after he rammed car into Chabad headquarters building, police say

By Karina Tsui, Sarah Dewberry, John Miller, Diego Mendoza, CNN

(CNN) — A driver who repeatedly rammed his car into the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters building in Brooklyn, New York, was charged with several hate crimes, police said Thursday, as synagogues and other houses of worship were on high alert throughout the city.

Dan Sohail, a 36-year-old New Jersey resident, faces several charges including attempted assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, which are being charged as hate crimes, said New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny during a news conference Thursday.

CCTV footage shows Sohail parked his 2012 Honda Accord on Wednesday evening a few blocks away from the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in the Crown Heights neighborhood and walked over to an alleyway next to the building, where he removed several blockades from the driveway, Kenny said.

He then walked back to his car, drove it over to the driveway, got out of the car to remove snow from the sidewalk, and drove into the alleyway before hitting the building with the vehicle five times, according to Kenny.

He was quickly arrested and there were no reported injuries, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Wednesday night.

CNN is working to determine if Sohail has an attorney.

Suspect previously visited Chabad Lubavitch headquarters

Sohail was at the Hasidic Jewish site approximately 10 days ago to attend an event, and officials believe he was “in Brooklyn (Wednesday) night to continue his attempt to connect with the Lubavitch Jewish community,” Kenny said. It’s “too early to tell” if Sohail was attending the events genuinely, he added, but said Sohail appeared to be very comfortable in the community.

When he was being taken out of the car by officers, Sohail said “his foot slipped,” Kenny said.

While later speaking with investigators, Sohail said he had lost control of the car because he was wearing clunky boots, according to Kenny.

When asked by reporters if there was other evidence in addition to the attack that led officials to charge the ramming incident as a hate crime, Kenny said, “The hate crime right now is that he basically attacked a Jewish institution,” adding that Sohail was clearly aware it was a synagogue based on his previous attendance.

The suspect is being treated as an emotionally disturbed person, CNN affiliate WABC reported, citing authorities. Kenny did not speak about Sohail’s mental health during Thursday’s news conference.

Sohail has no criminal history in New York City, and authorities are working with New Jersey law enforcement and the FBI as part of the investigation.

Video from the scene shows the car crashing into a set of doors at the end of the driveway. As bystanders watched the incident unfold, the car rammed the doors repeatedly until one came off its hinges.

As two people cautiously approached the car, the suspect emerged dressed in a jacket, shorts and boots, the video shows. At one point he yells to a person in the crowd, “It slipped!” Two officers then arrive and take the man into custody.

The NYPD bomb squad did a sweep of the vehicle and no explosive devices were found, Tisch said. She added that she wasn’t aware of any weapons recovered at the scene.

There are no specific or credible threats to synagogues or other houses of worship in New York City, but police have “significantly increased” their patrols in those areas out of an abundance of caution, Kenny said.

Ramming latest event in attacks against Jewish community

The car ramming comes amid a succession of attacks on members of the Jewish community–– in Brooklyn and across the world.

In December, a man was charged with a hate crime after police said he made antisemitic remarks and stabbed a man in Crown Heights, WABC reported. And earlier this month, two teenagers were arrested on suspicion of spray painting swastikas at a playground in Brooklyn.

The incidents in predominantly Jewish areas of New York came after 15 people were killed in a mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach during a celebration of the first night of Hanukkah in December.

The Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters was established in 1940 and is considered one of the most well-known Jewish buildings in the world, according to Chabad.org. Replicas of the red-brick synagogue with its distinctive facade can be found across the world.

Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson being chosen as the leader of the faith.

“Today is a significant day on the Chabad calendar, with thousands of young rabbinical students in the neighborhood,” Yaacov Behrman, head of public relations at the headquarters, told CNN over email.

“We believe that it was not a coincidence that he chose today to drive his car into the synagogue,” Behrman said.

Behrman said he spoke with a group of rabbinical students who interacted with the suspect roughly an hour before the car ramming.

The suspect asked the students about when the Hasidic gathering was happening, and they told him: “It’s also tomorrow, but mainly tonight.”

Details about what investigators learned or suspected about any motive in the incident were not immediately released. When asked at the news conference whether investigators knew whether the incident was intentional, Tisch said: “Unfortunately, investigation is preliminary and we’ll have more to say as it unfolds.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was “relieved that no one was injured in this horrifying incident.”

“This is deeply alarming especially given the deep meaning and history of the institution to so many in New York and around the world,” Mamdani said at the news conference.

“Any threat to a Jewish institution or place of worship must be taken seriously,” Mamdani said. “Antisemitism has no place in our city.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was also at the news conference, said her office will be working with NYPD to investigate the incident.

Police mobilized additional crowd control as members of the Chabad community gathered on the scene, and have enhanced security at places of worship across all five boroughs, Tisch said.

“You will see an enhanced uniformed presence, specialized patrols, counterterrorism resources and bomb squad deployment when appropriate,” she added.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to this report.