Pakistani Immigrant’s Attempted Attack on Brooklyn Jewish Students: ‘I’m Gonna Kill All the Jews’
Asghar Ali, a 58-year-old Pakistani immigrant livery cab driver, was heard yelling “I’m gonna kill all the Jews” during a horrifying antisemitic attack outside a Brooklyn Jewish school on Wednesday, May 29. A man attempted to run over a rabbi and Orthodox students with his car, creating a terrifying scene.
The man has been identified as Asghar Ali, a 58-year-old Pakistani immigrant livery cab driver. He has a history of mental illness, police said, according to the New York Post. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident.
Ali is now facing various charges, including attempted murder, attempted assault, and hate crimes. However, it is believed the attack was not terror-related. So far, police have not found evidence that he was tied to any online radical group.
At the time of the incident, Ali was driving a 2011 white Crown Victoria and making a turn onto East 55th Street. Near the Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School, he began driving toward students dressed in Orthodox garb in a shocking turn of events.
Ali targeted two more students and a rabbi after driving around the block and back toward the school. “I’m gonna kill all the Jews,” he screamed, according to cops.
However, the victims ran to safety inside the building before they could be struck. The victims included a trio of 18-year-olds, a 41-year-old man, and a 44-year-old man. None of them were reportedly hurt.
Rabbi Twersky, who works at the Yeshiva, described the chaos that ensued after Ali tried to hit one of the boys standing at the corner of Glenwood Road and East 55th Street. The driver then attacked a group of 30 to 40 students after driving up the wrong side of East 56th Street.
“I came in, and the boys were like ‘Did you see the cameras? Did you see the cameras?’” Twersky said. “I’m more scared for them. I’m much more scared than they are — their adrenaline is up.”
Ali initially fled but was soon found by members of the Shomrim Safety Patrol. NYPD cops were called by the Shomrim. “We were able to retrieve the video footage. We got the guy’s plate number,” Bob Moskowitz, executive coordinator of the patrol, said. “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,” he said. “And one of our members, when he was doing his daily patrol canvassing around the neighborhood, saw the car.”
Ali has been taken into custody and was eventually transferred to Coney Island Hospital.
Ali is originally from Pakistan but has been living in the US for over two decades. Law enforcement sources have described him as an “emotionally disturbed” person.
He was arrested in 1998 for false personation after flashing false ID when stopped. He does not own a valid TLC license but claims his occupation is driving a cab. He has four previous arrests, one of them for criminal impersonation.
“We were very pleased to be able to apprehend this individual,” Moskowitz said. “This is not somebody that we want driving around the streets, especially with this anti-Semitic, 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.”
