A man accused of the July stabbing of a rabbi outside a Jewish school in Boston in a suspected anti-Semitic hate crime will be indicted on nine counts in court on Thursday.
Khaled Awad, 24, will be arraigned on charges including armed assault with intent to murder, aggravated assault, battery by means of a dangerous weapon (knife), assault by means of a dangerous weapon (gun), assault and battery for the purpose of intimidation resulting in bodily injury and violating an individual’s constitutional rights, reported the Boston Herald.
Rabbi Shlomo Noginski was allegedly stabbed eight or nine times by Awad in front of a Jewish day school in Brighton, a Boston suburb. The stabbing was caught by a surveillance camera. Award was arrested not long after.
Awad, who is originally from Egypt, arrived in the US with biased views against Jews, Christians and American culture, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Margaret Hegarty said during a court hearing in early July.
Witnesses who knew or interacted with Awad told investigators he would become angry if his views were challenged, she said.
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins called the assault traumatic.
“This act of violence nearly killed the victim. But it also traumatized the entire Jewish community and deeply impacted the people of Brighton,” Rollins said.
Rollins’s office launched a civil rights investigation in July to determine if the stabbing was a hate crime.
“We have to recognize that anti-Semitism is on the rise, and we need to hold people accountable when they do this, so that they are made an example of,” she said, speaking at a vigil held near the site of the attack.
Former University of Florida roommates of Awad described him as “violent” and “very much-anti-Semitic” in an interview with CBS Boston.
They told CBS that Awad had displayed violent impulses and was making worrying jokes about Jews.
“He started becoming violent,” said Eric Valiente, one of the roommates.
Awad’s other roommate, Aidan Anderson, who is Jewish, said that he and Awad were on friendly terms until Awad attacked him in their kitchen.
The incident caused Anderson to move out immediately and get a restraining order. “We were friends, to be honest with you. I’m Jewish. And he knew that since I moved in.”