A hero helped stop the man with the “big machete knife” who burst into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in Monsey, New York during a Chanukah celebration on Saturday night.
At first, as the man began stabbing people, Josef Gluck ran away from the danger but quickly decided it didn’t feel right and went back to confront the would-be killer.
The congregants who were on the scene spanned generations, from 2 months old to 80 years old. About 20 of the youngsters were the rabbi’s own grandchildren, Gluck told CNN’s “New Day” on Monday.
The children were terrified and are still traumatized.
The killer came in “with his big machete knife” as the rabbi was finishing the candle-lighting ceremony, Mr. Gluck said.
“I started to run out through a side door, together with people (in) the dining room.”
Then he thought about others needing help. So “I ran back to the front door to see if I could help anyone from the other side,” Gluck said.
He saw one victim had a severe head injury.
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“I said, ‘Let’s go … The attacker’s still in the kitchen.’ ” Gluck recalled. But the victim said he was bleeding too severely to move.
Realizing the attacker’ was still bent on killing people, Gluck said he grabbed a coffee table, went after the assailant and “hit him in his face.”
“And that’s when he came back … after me,” Gluck said. “He told me, ‘Hey you! I’ll get you!’ He started walking towards me.”
But Gluck kept screaming “He’s coming!” and warned everyone else to flee.
The assailant chased him at first and then went to his car. Mr. Gluck followed him.
“He sat in his car. I looked for his (license) plate number, called 911,” Gluck said.
GRAFTON THOMAS WAS CHARGED WITH HATE CRIMES
ABCNews.GO.com reports that Federal prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against the 38-year-old man suspected of stabbing five people with a machete at the Hanukkah celebration.
Thomas has pleaded not guilty.
At the Greenwood Lake, New York, home of suspect Grafton Thomas, investigators recovered journals that had anti-Semitic sentiments including references to Hitler and “Nazi Culture” “on the same page as drawings of a Star of David and a Swastika,” according to the federal complaint.
His family said he’s mentally ill.
In the Sentinel’s opinion, that is no excuse nor does it mean he should ever be free again.
The day of the machete attack, Thomas’ phone was allegedly used to access an article titled: “New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here’s What To Know.”
So, he obviously went to Monsey.
Prosecutors said they found evidence on his phone of searches including “Why did Hitler hate the Jews.”
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