NEW YORK (AP) — Hate crime charges have been filed against a man who disrupted Shabbat services in Manhattan's Central Synagogue and struck two people while being hustled outside Friday night.
“As synagogue security was escorting him out, he struck a member of the congregation, damaged synagogue property, and then spit at and head-butted a member of the security team,” a statement from Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
A police sergeant working as a paid security detail at the synagogue immediately took the man into custody and no one was seriously injured, Tisch said.
Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, faces two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, among other charges, Tisch said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the assault during the livestreamed service “horrifying."
“Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence," he posted on social media.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer were among those who also condemned the attack.
Additional police security was added and Shabbat services continued Saturday.
“We might want to be focusing on the beauty of our liturgy and the sanctity of Shabbat, and somehow the feeling of the imperfect and cruel world keeps flooding in,” Rabbi Rebecca Thau told congregants.
FILE - Central Synagogue is seen on Feb. 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Eighteen children were among more than 70 people killed when an overloaded ferry capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe this week, police said Saturday after rescuers recovered more bodies.
The ferry capsized in strong waves on Tuesday. Police said that 26 more bodies had been recovered since then, bringing the death toll to 72.
The aging ferry was traveling from the town of Kariba to rural and fishing communities in the country's northwest, where roads are damaged and public transportation is scarce. Authorities have not said how many people were aboard or how many remain missing.
Estimates have put the number of passengers as high as 153, while authorities say the ferry’s capacity is 90. Zimbabwe’s disaster management agency has said 77 people were rescued.
Authorities initially said the number of children aboard was unknown because those below ticketing age were not included in passenger estimates. A police list released later showed that 16 of the child victims were aged 10 or younger, with the youngest just 1.
Kariba is the world’s largest human-made lake by volume, created by damming the mighty Zambezi River in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It stretches more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) and is up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) wide in places.
Zimbabwe and Zambia share the lake, with their border running through its middle.
Philis Hamandise, center, is embraced through a gate by a colleague at a victim identification center after losing her 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old nephew in a ferry capsizing on Lake Kariba, in Kariba, Zimbabwe, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Mkhululi Thobela)
Funeral pallbearers sit behind caskets during a memorial service for the victims of a ferry that capsized on Lake Kariba in Kariba, Zimbabwe, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Mkhululi Thobela)
