A 16-year-old from Southfield has been arrested after he and two companions hit and robbed four people — three of them Orthodox Jews — in three separate incidents in Oak Park.
The assaults were reminiscent of similar attacks on Orthodox Jews last spring (reported HERE on YWN) , when three other juveniles selected their victims because they appeared to be “convenient targets,” rather than because of any ethnic considerations, according to police in Southfield and Oak Park.
No similar attacks have been reported in Southfield, said police Chief Joseph E. Thomas Jr., “although we are investigating one incident.”
None of the recent victims were seriously injured, McNeillance said. But each was threatened, punched or shoved. YWN received reports that during each attack the suspects claimed to have a gun.
The following brief statement was issued by police following the arrests:
Through leads developed by the Detective Bureau all three suspects responsible for the assaults/robberies committed on August 27, were arrested early this morning by this Department. All three suspects are juveniles, ages 15 and 16. One of the suspects was arrested in Southfield at his residence and the other two were arrested in Detroit and are residents there. All three suspects are currently being lodged at Children Village in Pontiac. We will be seeking to have all three suspects charged as adults.
No ethnic comments were reported, said the Police Director, who speculated the most recent assaults — like those last Feb. 29 and March 1 — were random incidents, rather than hate crimes. Three juveniles were arrested in those attacks and turned over to juvenile authorities (as reported HERE on YWN)
That area — in southeast Southfield and southwest Oak Park — is home to a many Orthodox Jews.
(Dov Gordon – YWN / Mirror Newspapers)
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One Response
The police chief claims that these attacks on frum Jews were “random attacks.” But when violence arose last year, the same police chief told people at a public meeting that nowhere else in the town did blacks attack frum Jews. All other acts of violence were domestic, or between people who knew each other.
I guess when frum Jews are attacked it’s random. When does a random act, that it always blacks attacking Jews, become a hate crime?