Suspect arrested upon entering New York after threatening synagogue
Luis Ramirez, from Utah, caught driving into Manhattan, the latest in a series of thwarted attacks against US Jewish institutions
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
NEW YORK — A suspect was arrested on Friday after threatening to kill Jews at a New York City synagogue, the latest in a series of attempted attacks on Jewish targets in the US.
Luis Ramirez, from Utah, was arrested in New Jersey while attempting to enter Manhattan from New Jersey through the Lincoln Tunnel, said the Community Security Initiative, a group that coordinates security for Jewish institutions in the New York region.
On Friday afternoon, CSI picked up on threats that Ramirez had posted on social media.
“The Jews killed me in my past life,” Ramirez said on X on Friday. “Today in NYC when I pull up to Shabbat I will kill you first.”
“That’s not antisemitic or hate speech that’s called self defense,” he said in a follow-up post.
On Thursday, he wrote, “I will be visiting my brothers and sisters in NYC tomorrow pull up to Shabbat at the Central Synagogue.”
CSI passed the threats to the NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau and issued a warning bulletin to Manhattan Jewish locations. Law enforcement said Ramirez owned weapons and tracked him as he traveled toward New York.
Officers from the Port Authority Police, which secures transportation hubs in New York and New Jersey, made the arrest on Friday evening.
Law enforcement found that Ramirez did not have weapons on him at the time of the arrest, said Mitch Silber, the director of CSI, but added that Ramirez could have used his vehicle for an attack. Recent high-profile ramming attacks took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Munich in Germany.
Silber said Ramirez was a US military veteran. Ramirez’s account on X identifies him as a Marine officer candidate.
It was unclear how Ramirez was radicalized or why he chose to target Jews in New York.
On Thursday he posted, “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is a messenger of God,” in English and Arabic.
The incident is the latest in a series of attempted attacks on US Jewish targets.
Last month, an armed man was arrested in Florida for planning an attack on an AIPAC office.
In December, the FBI arrested a college student for a planned mass casualty terror attack against the Israeli consulate in New York City.
In September, a suspect was arrested in Canada while attempting to enter the US to attack a Jewish center in Brooklyn in support of ISIS.
In July, a neo-Nazi was indicted for planning mass casualty attacks against Jews in New York City by distributing poisoned candy to Jewish children.
The incidents come as antisemitism has surged in the US following the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.
