The crash came in the middle of one of the most important nights on the Chabad calendar, startling thousands of worshippers gathered in Brooklyn and leaving a tight-knit religious community shaken and searching for answers.
According to the New York Post, police say a man drove a gray Honda sedan with New Jersey plates into a side entrance of the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights on Wednesday night, repeatedly slamming the vehicle into the building before exiting and confronting stunned bystanders.
The NYPD confirmed officers responded to the synagogue on Eastern Parkway around 8:45 p.m. for what was initially reported as a “motor vehicle collision.”
Video circulating on social media shows the sedan backing up and plowing into the doors of a sloped driveway at least four times, knocking the doors off their hinges as people nearby scramble to get out of the way.
After the final impact, the driver steps out of the car and erupts at witnesses who had gathered nearby.
“I dunno, it slipped! It slipped, you f–king a–hole!” the man can be heard yelling at a Jewish man while gesturing angrily toward the vehicle.
Bystanders quickly pointed him out to police, and he was taken into custody without further incident, according to authorities and video from the scene.
Sources said the driver told officers he experienced some type of mechanical failure and did not make terroristic statements after his arrest. The NYPD has not announced a motive and said the investigation remains ongoing.
Multiple witnesses told The Post they recognized the man from prior encounters at Chabad locations in New Jersey.
“He was always asking people for help. They called the police on him before,” one witness said.
Another source recalled seeing the man at a Garden State synagogue in November “looking for guidance.”
“He was very learned – he knew a lot about the Bible and Judaism. He was having a hard time with life,” the source said.
Witnesses also said the man gave conflicting accounts about his connection to Judaism, at times claiming his mother was Jewish and at other moments “pretended to be Jewish” himself.
Sources said he visited a New Jersey yeshiva on Tuesday, possibly seeking to arrange a conversion, but was turned away.
Chabad spokesperson Yaacov Behrman said the synagogue was packed with worshippers marking Yud Shevat, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the current rebbe’s leadership.
“There are thousands of students here and tens of thousands of visitors in the neighborhood. It’s a very, very important day on the Chabad calendar, and the synagogue was very full at the time,” Behrman said.
Behrman described the crash as intentional and deeply alarming.
“This is a very serious incident – it’s very frightening. We know how dangerous it is to be Jewish today worldwide. We’re concerned about what this person intended to do, and we’re waiting for assurances from the police department that the area is safe,” he said.
The synagogue was evacuated following the crash. No injuries were reported.
A bomb squad swept the area and found no explosives, sources said. Behrman added that the mayor’s office reached out after the incident and that Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to hold a press conference at the Chabad headquarters.
