Peter Kohalmi/AFP via Getty Images
A 28-year-old man was arrested on the grounds of a synagogue in Albany, New York on Thursday afternoon, accused of firing a shotgun and saying “Free Palestine!” according to police. No injuries were reported in the episode, which occurred hours before the beginning of Hanukkah.
The suspect, described by authorities as a local man, was taken into custody just minutes after firing off two rounds in the parking lot of the Temple Israel after 2 p.m. local time. It was not immediately clear if he’d fired into the air or at the synagogue, with Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins saying at a press conference that there’d been no damage done to any buildings.
Still, he said, an early childhood center on the premises went into lockdown, which was later lifted.