Massachusetts man arrested for antisemitic threats had Nazi flag, guns and ammo
Matthew Scouras, 34, allegedly threatened online to rape Jewish women, called for shooting attacks at synagogues; stash of weapons at his home included pistol with no serial number
A Massachusetts man who was arrested on Saturday for threatening antisemitic violence had a gun, ammunition and a Nazi flag, police said.
Local outlets reported that Matthew Scouras, 34, had allegedly threatened to rape Jewish women and called for people to be shot outside of synagogues.
The FBI alerted police to the threat, and when they searched Scouras’s home in Beverly, Massachusetts, north of Boston, they reportedly found the Nazi flag, six boxes of ammunition, several guns and numerous other firearm parts. He also had $70,000 in cash. Among the firearms was a 9mm Glock “ghost gun” with no serial number, the Beverly Police Department said in a statement Monday.
Scouras faces a range of charges related to illegal possession of firearms and a count of threats to destroy a place of worship. He has been arraigned and his next hearing is scheduled for next week. He is being held without bail.
Rabbi Mendel Barber told CBS News that the threat did not take the Jewish community by surprise as antisemitism has been rising in recent years.
Barber said he was grateful to the FBI and police for taking action. The community will begin to take extra precautions in light of the incident.
“Any of our events, or anytime we gather for prayer or whatever it may be, we have the security details,” Barber said. “We’re putting up cameras.”
“The feeling that somebody is out there for us is always there,” said local Beverly resident Dina Davidyan, who, along with her husband, is originally from Israel.
To find out that the threat is coming from a neighbor is “terrible,” said Davidyan, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor.
