The madman who allegedly shouted “Freedom for Palestine!” on Saturday and then brutally stabbed a Jewish man in the stomach was sentenced to $100,000 bail for several hate crimes.
Vincent Sumpter, 22, of Brooklyn, was reportedly “looking for trouble” when he approached Yechiel Dabrowskin around 2 a.m. near Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights, shouting anti-Semitic slurs and asking, “Do you want to die?” before stabbing him with his knife.
“It is very, very painful,” Dabrowskin told Israeli broadcaster Kan 11 News about his wounds after the attack. “I had internal bleeding, but thank God a miracle happened to me.”
Dabrowskin said the knife was “very close to his heart.”
The suspect was subsequently overpowered and arrested.
Sumpter, who has no prior criminal record in New York City, according to law enforcement sources, faces a slew of charges related to the attack, including second- and third-degree assault and menacing, with four counts being considered hate crimes.
According to New York Police Department data, 229 anti-Semitic hate crimes have been reported to the New York Police Department so far this year as of last Sunday.
During the same period last year, 126 such incidents were reported.
The sharp increase came after the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped over 200, prompting the Jewish state to launch a military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Mark Treygar, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, condemned the recent case of violence against Jewish city residents in a post on X.
He called it a “heinous and despicable attack” and stressed that the attack should not be viewed as an isolated incident.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the stabbing was “deeply disturbing and completely unacceptable.”
“This horrific act of anti-Semitism has no place in our society,” the Brooklyn politician tweeted.
New York Attorney General Letitia James added to X: “This is a horrific act of anti-Semitism and violence that will not be tolerated in New York.
“I am grateful that the victim is physically OK, but we cannot remain silent while this hatred continues in our city and our country,” she wrote.
A witness had previously told Freedom New TV that the alleged attacker was “looking for trouble” before the stabbing.
“It worries me a little, but at the same time I feel comfortable here,” the man said.
“I always pay attention, but at the same time it makes me more cautious and makes sure that nothing happens behind me. And if you suddenly turn around, there’s a guy there who wants to stab you.”
It is not known whether Sumpter had hired a lawyer.
