Crown Heights Shomrim Volunteer Apprehends Man Vandalizing Shul

(CrownHeights.info/Hamodia) — A disturbed man was apprehended by a Crown Heights Shomrim volunteer after vandalizing Rayim Ahuvim Shul on Schenectady Ave and Carroll Street on Tuesday.

Shomrim volunteers saw the man hanging around the area at12:15 p.m., and recognized him as a local irritant.

“He moved into the neighborhood a coupe of weeks ago, and he is just a nuisance,” volunteer Gadi Hershkop told Hamodia. “He seems to be emotinally disturbed. He bothers people all day; he gets into people’s faces.”

Realizing there was a shul nearby, Hershkop then went back to the area to check on the shul, and saw the man tearing off metal bars from the shul’s gate. After a brief conversation in which the man lifted a metal bar as a threat, Hershkop convinced the man to drop the bar and sit down on the floor. Hershkop then radioed for officers from the 71st Precinct, who arrested the man.

Hershkop said that despite the man’s irritating behavior, this is his first criminal activity Shomrim has witnessed.

Police did not immediately make available the victim’s name or the charges against him.