A US court sentenced 52-year-old Jarrett Bova of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to five years in prison and commitment to a mental health institution for attacking two Jewish students, Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon, with a glass bottle in August 2024 as they walked to a Hillel event at the University of Pittsburgh.
Bova identified the pair as Jewish because they were wearing kippot. Goodwin suffered a neck laceration and Gordon sustained a concussion. The indictment included four counts of ethnic intimidation and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
At sentencing, Bova expressed remorse, saying he had stopped taking his psychiatric medication and was hallucinating and hearing voices at the time of the attack.
The day after the incident, University of Pittsburgh officials condemned the assault but stated that law enforcement had determined it was not directed at a specific group, a claim that drew criticism from the Jewish community.
Goodwin, who has since graduated and moved to Philadelphia, told the court he still experiences fear and anxiety because of the attack. He said the incident turned what should have been a moment of “joy, reflection, and unity" into one of “fear and violence," adding that he remains proud of his Jewish identity despite ongoing antisemitism on campus.
The second victim, Ilan Gordon, now serves in the IDF. In a statement read by his father, Gordon described himself as an observant Jew and grandson of Holocaust survivors. He said the atmosphere on campus after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel included “university-sanctioned calls to globalize the intifada."
Gordon wrote that Bova deliberately targeted two visibly Jewish students despite others walking nearby. He said the injuries required dental surgery and ended his baseball career.
He also accused the university of allowing anti-Jewish and anti-Israel rhetoric to flourish unchecked, arguing that the assault was linked to a climate that normalized bigotry and hostility toward Jews.