Police have filed hate crime charges against a 46-year-old man who attacked two people at a Midtown synagogue as he charged down the aisle, disrupting the sanctity of a peaceful Shabbat service, officials said Saturday.
“Do you know who I am?” Larry Montes ranted as he punched a 63-year-old woman and headbutted a 65-year-old security guard as he was being escorted out of Central Synagogue on Lexington Ave. at E. 55th St. Friday evening.
“Nobody here is real!” he screamed, witnesses told police.
During his caught-on-camera tirade, Montes also damaged synagogue property, including an ornate Shabbat candle holder valued at $20,000, officials said.
Cops charged him with hate crime assault, assault, criminal mischief as a hate crime, disruption of a religious service, harassment, and aggravated harassment, cops said. His arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Saturday.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called Montes’ attack “deeply painful.”
“A place of worship should never be a crime scene,” Tisch said on X. “I understand the sanctity of this space and its meaning for congregants.”
“Central Synagogue is where I grew up,” she said. “In joy and in sorrow, it has always been a place of comfort and peace.”
Montes, who was sitting with the congregation, stormed the front of the synagogue at about 6:10 p.m. as a pair of worshippers were in the middle of a musical performance.
A livestream of Shabbat service shows a burly Montes, wearing a blue polo shirt and glasses and sporting a beard, storming up the synagogue’s central aisle in a rage toward the bimah, or raised platform where rabbis read the Torah.
The two women performing a song flee to safety as Montes reaches the bimah, spins around and marches back down the aisle, this time escorted from behind by a security guard, while furiously pounding the air with his fist and ranting.
Montes lives in Mott Haven in the Bronx, more than six miles from the synagogue. It wasn’t immediately clear why he was visiting that particular house of worship.
He had been arrested three times for robbery in 2023 and 2019 before Friday’s arrest, police said.
Congregants at the Midtown synagogue didn’t let the violence stop them from finishing the Shabbat service, according to Central Synagogue’s senior rabbi.
“It is a testament to the strength of our community that services resumed immediately, and we refused to let this disruption extinguish the spirit of Shabbat,” Rabbi Angela Buchdahl and Jon May and Marcia Caban, the temple’s respective president and executive director, wrote in an email to congregants.
Mayor Mamdani said he was “horrified” to learn of the attack.
“Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence,” Mamdani said. “This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.”
Governor Hochul called the incident “appalling” and said, “Jewish New Yorkers have every right to worship openly, proudly, and without fear.”
“I’m deeply disturbed by tonight’s incident at Central Synagogue, where Shabbat services were disrupted and members of the congregation and security team were assaulted,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin posted. “Incidents like this are painful and traumatizing for so many, and only deepen the fear many are already feeling. Every New Yorker has the right to worship in peace and safety.”
“Antisemitism is real and it’s increasing by the day,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) added as he thanked the NYPD for the quick arrest. “No American, regardless of their religion, should feel unsafe in a house of worship. We must come together to ensure that no space is left for these types of antisemitic beliefs or acts.”
“All New Yorkers and all Americans must be able to worship freely with no fear of danger for themselves or their families,” Schumer said.
With Rocco Parascandola