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Brooklyn Synagogue Robbed, Caretaker Beaten With Gardening Tool
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 17, 2017
Modified Apr 17, 2017
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Apr 17, 2017
Modified Apr 17, 2017
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Two men robbed a Midwood synagogue and attacked its 53-year-old live-in caretaker early yesterday morning, according to police.
The NYPD says that at around 5 a.m. on Sunday, two men broke into the property at 1703 Avenue J, which houses the Chabad Synagogue Beth Menachem Mendel. ABC 7 reports the suspects found the unidentified caretaker inside, then beat his face and head with a rotary cultivator gardening tool. "I saw blood in the face,” a witness told CBS 2. "It’s terrible, terrible."
Cops say the suspects demanded the caretaker give them his wallet, then fled with $300, credit cards, a laptop and cell phone. They also allegedly stole money from the synagogue's charity box.
City Councilman David Greenfield, who represents the area, has offered a $1K reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest. "It’s certainly jarring that a caretaker of a synagogue would be brutally assaulted and forced to open the synagogue," he told 1010 WINS. "The manager of the synagogue told me today that there was literally blood on the floor of the synagogue."
The caretaker was treated at Maimonides Medical Center. The NYPD says they've made no arrests at this time.
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