A man from St Louis admitted to threatening to blow up an area Reform synagogue in 2021, the US Department of Justice said on Monday.
Cody Steven Rush, 30, admitted that he called the St Louis office of the FBI in November 2021. During the call he said, “I’m going to blow up a church.” He gave his name and identified the target as the Central Reform Congregation, which is a Reform synagogue in St Louis.
He also said that he would commit the attack the next morning, when people were inside the building, adding that he hated Jews.
According to the DOJ, Rush called back a second time and threatened to attack the congregation “while they are in service.”
When he was asked if he had anything else to say, Rush replied: “Yeah, that I hate them with rage.”
During a third call, Rush gave the FBI his current location, which was on the same street as the Central Reform Congregation. When the FBI called him back again, he made additional threats.
Officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI located Rush, who said that he was “feeling suicidal and homicidal. I just feel like killing Jews.”
He was placed in custody without incident.
On Monday, Rush pleaded guilty at a US District Court to using a telephone and an instrument of interstate commerce to make a threat. He faces up to 10 years in prison and will be sentenced November 8.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)