A 17-year-old student at the Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights was arrested Feb. 2 for allegedly making antisemitic threats to hundreds of his classmates, according to authorities. The school’s principal alerted the NYPD as soon as he became aware of the threat.
Police from the 115th Precinct responded to a 911 call just after 12:30 p.m. reporting a possible bias incident inside the school at 35-59 81st St. Upon their arrival, officers were informed by school administrators of an individual that disseminated antisemitic emails to more than 300 students at the school.
The 17-year-old, of Jackson Heights, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court late Tuesday evening on a criminal complaint charging him with making a terroristic threat as a hate crime, making a terrorist threat, and three counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree.
“At a time when more than half of all hate crimes citywide are anti-Jewish, we are seeing a dangerous normalization of antisemitism,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “Our schools must remain places of safety and learning in the face of this alarming trend.”
According to the charges and investigation, at 12:34 p.m. on Feb, 2, the principal of the Renaissance Charter School at 35-59 81st St. observed an email that was sent to several hundred students at one time from a school email address assigned to the defendant. The email stated, “At 2:00 we will all rise up and kill all the Jews in this school and city. F*ck Jews.”
The school was in session at the time of the email transmission. The principal contacted the authorities and the 17-year-old student was apprehended at the school by officers from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights.
“Threats of violence directed at students, particularly those rooted in hate, will be taken seriously and addressed immediately by my office,” Katz said.
Her office requested $50,000 cash bail but Queens Criminal Court Judge Srividya Pappachan set bail at $10,000 cash/$30,000 bond. If convicted of the top charge, the teen faces up to 15 years in prison.
“The defendant now faces serious criminal charges for allegedly threatening to kill Jewish students at his school and Jewish New Yorkers across the city,” Katz said. “We will continue to act decisively to keep our schools safe and to protect the many communities that call this borough home.”
The investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force remains ongoing.
“I am relieved that no one was harmed and that the student is in custody,” State Sen. Jessica Ramos said in a statement posted to social media, “Our Jewish neighbors, students and families deserve safety, dignity and protection. We will continue working with school leaders and law enforcement to keep our community safe.”
That message of solidarity was echoed by her challenger in the June primary, Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, who called the antisemitic threats deeply troubling and reprehensible.
“Every member of our community deserves to feel safe in their neighborhoods and schools and threats of this nature serve only to intimidate and divide,” she said. “We will not allow such hateful actions to define who we are as a community. I want members of the Jewish community to know that my office stands firmly with them in confronting antisemitism, and that I will do everything in my power to ensure accountability and justice for those who seek to harm or divide us.”
