Maniac screams ‘I’m gonna kill all the Jews’ as he tries to run down students outside NYC Jewish school
A maniac tried to mow down Orthodox students and a rabbi outside a Brooklyn Jewish school Wednesday while allegedly yelling “I’m gonna kill all the Jews” in a shocking antisemitic attack, sources told The Post.
Video footage supplied by the Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol shows the crazed driver revving his engine and mounting the curb as he swerved toward Orthodox Jews milling around a yeshiva in Canarsie at about 11:25 a.m.
Police and sources identified the alleged attacker as 58-year-old Asghar Ali, a Pakistani immigrant livery cab driver with a history of mental illness.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the case, and detectives were interviewing the driver Wednesday night.
The Brooklyn man faces more than a dozen charges including attempted murder, attempted assault and hate crimes charges.
Cops do not believe the attack is terror-related and on Wednesday night did not have evidence he was tied to radical groups online, according to sources.
The man was driving a 2011 white Crown Victoria and making a turn onto East 55th Street in front of the Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School when he suddenly veered toward students dressed in Orthodox garb, according to the NYPD and video footage.
He then drove around the block and back toward the school — this time targeting two more students standing outside and a rabbi.
“I’m gonna kill all the Jews,” the driver allegedly seethed, according to police.
The victims managed to find safety in the building, which also has as dorms, the clip shows
No one was hurt in the attack, cops said. Authorities listed five victims in the case: a trio of 18-year-olds, a 41-year-old man and a 44-year-old man.
Rabbi Twersky, who works at the yeshiva, said the commotion began when the driver tried to strike one of the boys while he was on his phone at the corner of Glenwood Road and East 55th Street.
He then drove up the wrong side of East 56th Street and barreled toward a group of 30 to 40 students standing outside, said Twersky, who declined to give his first name.
“I came in, and the boys were like, ‘Did you see the cameras? Did you see the cameras?’” Twersky recalled in an interview. “I’m more scared for them. I’m much more scared than they are — their adrenaline is up.”
Tire marks on a sidewalk near the yeshiva could still be seen Wednesday night and a police car was stationed outside.
The driver got away at first, but was quickly found by members of the Shomrim Safety Patrol, who swarmed the neighborhood to look for the attacker.
The Shomrim summoned NYPD cops, who swooped in after he stopped at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts.
“We were able to retrieve the video footage. We got the guy’s plate number,” Bob Moskovitz, executive coordinator of the patrol, told The Post. “Obviously it was a very distinct car, a Crown Vic, an old model. You don’t see too many of those around.”
“We were told by the people at the school that he hangs around, he drives around the neighborhood,” Moskovitz said. “And one of our members, when he was doing his daily patrol canvassing around the neighborhood, saw the car.”
The driver was taken into custody and was transferred to Coney Island Hospital, sources said.
The suspect, originally from Pakistan and who has lived in the US for more than two decades, is considered an “emotionally disturbed” person, law enforcement sources said.
He has four prior arrests, including one in 1998 for false personation after he flashed a false ID when he was stopped, authorities and sources said.
He identifies his occupation as a cab driver, but does not have a valid TLC license.
“We were very pleased to be able to apprehend this individual,” Moskovitz said. “This is not somebody that we want driving around the streets, especially with this antisemitic, anti-Jewish climate that’s out there. So we were glad to be able to put this to rest. The community was kind of uptight about this. Now everybody can be a little more relaxed.”
