NEW YORK (AP) — A man who drove his car into Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in New York City was recently trying to connect with the Hasidic Jewish community and was recorded on video dancing enthusiastically with congregants during a recent visit to the site, police said.
Investigators were still trying to piece together what prompted the man, Dan Sohail, 36, to repeatedly ram his car into a set of doors at the aging Hasidic Jewish center in Brooklyn on Wednesday night, but police charged him Thursday with attempted assault as a hate crime, based on the fact that the building was a Jewish institution.
“Earlier this month, Sohail attended a social gathering at this same location,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a news conference, noting that there was video circulating online of that gathering.
The video appears to show Sohail dancing with Orthodox men inside the headquarters.
“We believe he was in Brooklyn last night to continue this attempt to connect with the Lubavitch Jewish community,” Kenny said.
Sohail told police he lost control of his car because he was wearing “clumsy boots,” Kenny said, though Kenny added that Sohail had cleared several roadblocks and cleared snow away from a sidewalk before driving into the building.
The complex at 770 Eastern Parkway includes a synagogue and offices, and was packed with worshipers at the time, but no one was injured. Some of the doors of the building were damaged. No weapon was discovered in Sohail’s car.
Sohail’s father told the New York Daily News on Thursday that his son was considering converting to Judaism and that he had struggled with “mental problems.” The Forward, a media outlet focused on Jewish issues, interviewed a rabbi in New Jersey who said Sohail attended a Purim service at Chabad last year and has visited twice more, seeking spiritual guidance.
“I could talk to him for a few minutes and see that he is not exactly stable,” said Rabbi Levi Azimov to the Forward. Another rabbi at a Jewish school in Carteret, New Jersey, where Sohail lived, told the Forward that he had gone down to afternoon prayers on Tuesday but started shouting about how he felt he had been rejected by Chabad after the service.
The crash occurred on the 75th anniversary since Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson became the leader of the Lubavitch movement and raised immediate concerns in the city. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city’s Police Commissioner, Jessica Tisch, rushed to the scene to brief the media, with officials announcing increased security around houses of worship across the city.
“This is very alarming, especially considering the deep meaning and history of the institution for so many in New York and around the world,” Mamdani said. “And today of all days.”
Chabad Lubavitch’s headquarters and synagogue in Brooklyn attract thousands of visitors each year. There is a constant police presence around the complex.