Knife-wielding suspect shouting ‘Heil f***ing Hitler’ chases Jewish man in NYC

Alleged assailant charged with hate crime for incident in Crown Heights; separately, attacker beats rabbi in Boro Park, is charged with assault, obstruction of breathing, harassment

By Luke Tress
  • Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
 Today, 6:23 am
Security footage released by the Crown Heights Shmira neighborhood watch group on September 24, 2026, shows an assailant chasing a Jewish man with a knife in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. (Screenshot/X)

NEW YORK — A knife-wielding suspect chased a Jewish man into his home in Brooklyn on Wednesday while shouting, “Heil fucking Hitler,” and has been charged with a hate crime.

Video released by the Crown Heights Shmira neighborhood watch group showed the Jewish man running up the stairs to his home, followed by the assailant.

The man shouted, “Now I know where you live,” while brandishing his knife after the Jewish man went inside, the video showed. He then appeared to slash the tires of bicycles outside the home.

The NYPD said the suspect had approached the 24-year-old victim and began cursing and threatening him.

When the victim ran away, the suspect chased him and continued to threaten him with the knife and was later arrested, the NYPD said.

Police identified the suspect as Devin Best, 48, from the Bronx. He was charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime and menacing and the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force was investigating.

The incident took place during the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning.

Separately, the Boro Park Shomrim neighborhood watch group released video showing a suspect beating a Jewish man with his fists.

The victim was a rabbi, Boro Park Shomrim said.

Police said the attack took place on Wednesday night and identified the victim as a 66-year-old man who was taken to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition.

The assailant approached the victim and “began striking him with a closed fist in the face and about the body,” and was arrested, police said.

The suspect was arrested and charged with two counts of assault, and one count each of obstruction of breathing and harassment.

Police identified the suspect as Eric Avrutov, 31, from Brooklyn.

There was no indication the police were treating the incident as a hate crime.

Crown Heights and Boro Park both have large Hasidic populations.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York City more than all other groups combined.

There have been at least 229 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city so far this year, 54 percent of the total hate crimes against all groups, and an eight percent increase over the same period last year, according to NYPD data.

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