Police in Detroit reiterated on Monday that the slaying of a prominent Jewish leader was most likely not an act of antisemitism and that it didn't bear telltale signs of a hate crime, NBC News reported.
"Right now, the evidence does not take us there," Detroit Police Chief James E. White told reporters, declining to elaborate on what led authorities to believe the murder of Samantha Woll, 40, on Saturday morning wasn't a bias attack.
Though no arrests have been made, White insisted that no other groups of people should believe they're in immediate danger.
"We believe the motivation is very different than a hate crime," he said. "It's horrific and it's tragic, and that's the focus of the investigation."
“We believe that there are no other groups or anyone else at risk. We believe this incident was not motivated by antisemitism and this suspect acted alone,” he added.
“There’s a process to how we disqualify suspects, how we disqualify persons of interest, that the detectives are engaged in,” continued White. “We’re confident where we’ve arrived with this particular crime.”
He did not provide additional details.
Investigators are focusing on "persons of interest" and a "number of different theories," said White, who stopped short of saying police had a suspect in mind.
Woll, President of the board of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was found dead outside her home with multiple stab wounds on her body early Saturday.
On Sunday, White said that police continue to investigate the death of Woll and that "no evidence has surfaced suggesting that this crime was motivated by antisemitism."
The Jewish Federation of Detroit on Saturday night said there was no indication that Woll’s murder was motivated by antisemitism.