1994 Brooklyn Bridge shooting

1994 Brooklyn Bridge shooting
TheBrooklyn Bridge,where the shooting took place. Photographed in February 2007
Location	New York City,United States
Date	March 1, 1994
Target	Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish students
Attack type	mass shooting
Weapons	.380-caliberCobrayMAC-11machine pistol 9mmGlock 17pistol 12-gaugeArmsel Strikershotgun Stun gun
Deaths	1
Injured	3
Perpetrator	Rashid Baz
Motive	Anti-Americanism Antisemitism Revenge forCave of the Patriarchs massacre

On March 1, 1994, Lebanese-born Rashid Baz shot at a van of 15Chabad-LubavitchOrthodox Jewishstudents who were traveling on theBrooklyn BridgeinNew York City,killing one and injuring three others.Initially aroad rageincident, in 2005, this shooting was reclassified as a terrorist attack.

Incident

In the attack, Baz shot at a van in which 15Chabad-LubavitchOrthodox Jewishstudents were crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. He used aCobrayMAC-11automatic pistolto strafe the van, and aGlock 179mmsemi-automatic pistol to shoot at students. He also had a 12-gaugeArmsel Strikershotgun in his trunk.

Four students were shot. The two most seriously wounded included Ari Halberstam, a sixteen-year-old, who died five days later from a shot to the head. The other student, Israeli-born Nachum Sasonkin, was also shot in the head and suffered permanent major speech impediments.

Amir Abudaif, an auto mechanic, reported the incident to the police. During the arrest, Baz was also found to be in possession of anti-Jewish literature, a.380-calibersemiautomatic pistol, a stun gun, a bulletproof vest, and two 50-round ammunition magazines. Initially, Baz claimed a traffic dispute led him to commit the shootings, and theFederal Bureau of Investigationinitially classified the case asroad rage.Witnesses testified that on the day of the shooting Baz had attended "a raging anti-Semitic sermon" at the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge.

Baz pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense team also offered the theory that Baz was reacting to events in the Middle East.

The jury rejected both defenses, and Baz was found guilty of second degree murder and 14 additional counts of attempted murder in New York Supreme Court on December 1, 1994. He was sentenced to 141 years to life in prison.

Dead and wounded

Dead

Ari Halberstam, ayeshivastudent, was killed in the attack. He was the son ofDevorah Halberstamand David Halberstam, members of distinguished families associated with theChabad-Lubavitchmovement. He was raised under the personal supervision of the seventhLubavitcher Rebbe,Menachem Mendel Schneerson.The Halberstam family had ties to the Rebbe as Ari's father worked as a butler and personal manager to the Rebbe. The Halberstam family also includes a rabbinic dynasty of its own,Bobov,whose first Rebbe wasShlomo Halberstam.

On March 1, 1994, Ari Halberstam was visiting the ailing Rebbe at theManhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital,and was returning to his Brooklyn home via theBrooklyn Bridge.On the entrance ramp to the bridge, gunman Rashid Baz opened fire on the van, which also carried more than a dozen other Hasidic students. Baz was equipped with a submachine gun, two 9mm guns, and a "street sweeper" shotgun. Baz pursued the van across the bridge as he fired in three separate bursts, spraying both sides of the van, before disappearing into traffic. During the shooting spree, the gunman reportedly shouted in Arabic "Kill the Jews," expressing revenge for the terrorist massacre of 29 Muslim worshipers at theCave of the PatriarchsinHebronbyBaruch Goldsteinfour days prior. The attack critically wounded two of the young men and injured two others.

Halberstam was rushed toSt. Vincent's Hospitaland was the most severely wounded, having been shot in the head by Baz. As a result of the massive brain injuries, Halberstam died on March 6, five days after the shooting.

As the funeral procession took place onEastern Parkway,outside the central Lubavitcher synagogue at770 Eastern Parkway,some 10,000 mourners were in attendance. More than 250 police officers were on hand to maintain safety. Halberstam was buried in theMontefiore CemeteryinQueens.

Wounded

Nachum Sossonkin survived but suffered permanent brain damage.

Levi Wilhelm survived a bullet to the abdomen.

Yaakov Schapiro has minor injuries to one hand and a minor gunshot wound to the head.

Legacy

Among the items named in memory of Ari Halberstam include:

• Ari Halberstam Memorial Rampon theBrooklyn Bridge,on which the act of terrorism occurred.Only the ramps heading toward the Brooklyn Bridge were named—the ramps heading away from the bridge have yet to be named.
• TheJewish Children's Museum,dedicated in memory of Ari Halberstam.
• Ari's Law:requiring a license in order to possess a gun kit from which a firearm could be produced.

Convictions

Bassam Reyati, uncle of Baz and the owner of the car, was convicted of concealing evidence, and was sentenced to 5 years of probation and a $1,000 fine on October 16, 1996. Hilal Abd Al-Aziz Muhammad, owner of the car repair shop Baz used to hide the damage to his car, was convicted of concealing evidence and hindering prosecution. He was sentenced to five years of probation on May 17, 1995. Albert Jeanniton was convicted for illegally selling one of the guns obtained by Baz.In 2000, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan)Mary Jo Whiteand the Federal Bureau of Investigation re-classified the attack as "the crimes of a terrorist."

Rashid Baz's defense team portrayed him as suffering frompost-traumatic stress disorderdue to his childhood exposure to violence during theLebanese Civil War.They argued further that Baz's actions were triggered byCave of the Patriarchs massacreof 29 people in Hebron. The jury rejected this argument, and on December 1, 1994, Baz was convicted on one count of murder, 14 counts of attempted murder, and one count of criminal use of a firearm. On January 18, 1995, judge Harold Rothwax sentenced Baz to 141 years to life in prison.Baz was initially imprisoned at theAuburn Correctional Facilityin upstate New York and later transferred to theClinton Correctional Facility.

Despite the conviction of Baz, the Halberstam family and others wanted the case reclassified as aterroristattack and wanted a further investigation to probe any terrorist links to Baz. On August 26, 1999, theUnited States Department of JusticeandFBIagreed to open an investigation into Baz. The investigation did not yield any new leads connected to terrorist organizations but theJustice Departmentdid formally reclassify the incident as an act ofterrorism.In his confession in 2007, Baz said, "I only shot them because they were Jewish."

See also

• Crown Heights riot
• 1997 Empire State Building shooting
• 2000 New York terror attack
• 2009 Bronx terrorism plot
• List of attacks on Jewish institutions in the United States

External links

• Ari Halberstam Memorial siteArchivedJuly 5, 2012, at theWayback Machine