Child seriously hurt after rock thrown at bus of Jewish third graders in New Jersey

A child was seriously injured after a rock was apparently thrown at a school bus carrying Jewish elementary school students in Teaneck, New Jersey, on Wednesday.

The bus was returning third-grade students to Yeshivat Noam, a Jewish school in Paramus, from an excursion to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, when a rock shattered the side window and hit the 8-year-old student as the bus was traveling along the New Jersey Turnpike, according to New Jersey Police and school officials who spoke to CBS News.

The student was treated for a skull fracture, according to the school. She underwent surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center, and was in stable condition on Friday, the NJ.com news outlet reported.

Police said they are investigating the incident as an aggravated assault, and asked the public to share information.

Teaneck Mayor Mark J. Schwartz said the officials were personally offering a $5,000 reward for information on the incident, according to a statement cited by NJ.com.

“There’s no indication it’s a bias crime. At the same time, it was a slow-moving bus off a ramp with visibly Jewish kids inside,” he said. “We don’t want to rush to make accusations of antisemitism or racism. But because of the times we’re in and the fact that was a Yeshiva bus with visibly Jewish kids, we’re treading carefully.”

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The New Jersey State Police is seeking the public’s assistance with an aggravated assault investigation that occurred on the New Jersey Turnpike in Teaneck Twp., Bergen County.

Click link for more info: https://t.co/pVye7hiKqI pic.twitter.com/0yY5HjUCyb

— NJSP – New Jersey State Police (@NJSP) January 8, 2026

Avram Zamist, a parent of a nine-year-old at the school, told CBS his daughter was “shook” but “physically OK.”

“But a friend of hers is not OK,” he told the network. “We hope it wasn’t intentional, but if it was, it’s the worst feeling in the world to think that someone would put a child’s life or children’s lives in danger.”

“We do not know the motive behind the incident, and it would be premature to draw conclusions,” school administrators said in a statement cited by CBS. “There were no visible markings on the bus identifying it as a Jewish school bus.”

Antisemitism surged across the globe in the aftermath of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.

Earlier this week, data from the New York Police Department showed Jews were targeted in hate crimes more than all other groups combined last year in New York City.