The man accused of injuring five after breaking into a rabbi’s home in New York kept journals that contained anti-Semitic views and referenced Adolf Hitler.
Grafton Thomas, 37, allegedly broke into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg and stabbed five people with a machete on Saturday night as the group gathered to celebrate the seventh night of Hanukkah. On Monday, prosecutors filed hate crime charges against Thomas, according to the New York Times.
Law enforcement officials announced that they found handwritten journals that referenced Hitler, showed swastikas, and promoted anti-Semitic views, according to the complaint filed against Thomas, which was signed by FBI Special Agent Julie S. Brown. There were also references to “Nazi culture,” and he also asked “why ppl mourned for anti-Semitism when there is Semitic genocide,” according to the Associated Press.
Thomas’s phone also revealed a search history of phrases like, “Why did Hitler hate the Jews” and “German Jewish Temples near me.” On the day of the attack, his phone pulled up an article titled “New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here’s What To Know.”
His family has since claimed that Thomas suffers from mental illnesses and had been hospitalized previously. “He has no history of like violent acts and no convictions for any crime,” his family said late Sunday in a statement issued by attorney Michael Sussman. “He has no known history of anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races. He is not a member of any hate groups.”
“We believe the actions of which he is accused, if committed by him, tragically reflect profound mental illness,” the statement went on.
The attack at Rabbi Rottenberg’s home marks the 14th apparent anti-Semitic crime in the New York area, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The attack follows the deaths of four people when two shooters opened fire inside a Jewish market in New Jersey earlier this month.
