© istock
Khaled Awad, 24, was arrested July 1 in connection to a violent attack on Rabbi Shlomo Noginski outside a Jewish day school in the Brighton neighborhood.
Prosecutors say Awad pulled a gun on Noginski and demanded keys to a school van. The rabbi handed over the keys and Awad motioned for the rabbi to enter the van, while at the same time putting away the gun and pulling out a knife.
As Noginski tried to run away, Awad allegedly stabbed him nine times. The suspect was later arrested by police in a nearby alley. The rabbi survived the attack and is recovering from his injuries.
On Thursday, prosecutors announced Awad was arraigned on new hate crime counts, which include committing a civil rights violation causing injury and armed assault and battery to intimidate causing bodily injury while armed. Awad had previously been charged with seven separate charges in the attack on July 2.
"We are standing here today because we want the Jewish community to know that we believe this violent attack was rooted in anti-semitism. We are going to call that out and charge that specifically," Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement.
Authorities said witnesses told investigators Awad held strong biases against Jews, Christians and American culture, and had called Jews "evil" and used other derogatory language. One witness said they saw Awad outside the school acting in a suspicious manner the day before the attack and took a photo of him.
Awad's attorney said his client "adamantly denies having those kinds of conversations," according to NBC Boston.
"There was a van. There was a set of keys. He wanted him to get into the van. I do not see anything to indicate to me that this was based on hate," Awad's attorney Stephen Weymouth said, according to the news outlet.
Surely sounds like what AA would call a case of vibrant diversity.
R.C.