A man who attempted to commit a terror attack on a synagogue in New York in 2022 has pleaded guilty to one count of criminal possession of a weapon for the attempt, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Christopher Brown, 23, had traveled to New York City after posting several antisemitic messages on social media. Brown was arrested at Penn Station on Nov. 18, 2022, along with Matthew Mahrer, with whom he had planned to carry out an attack on a synagogue and to whom he had paid $650 for assistance in the attempted attack. At Penn Station, MTA police recovered a knife, a swastika armband, and a ski mask from his backpack.
Brown’s sentencing is scheduled for November, according to the district attorney, and he is expected to receive a 10-year prison sentence followed by five years of supervised release.
The attack had been thwarted in part thanks to a tip from the Community Security Initiative, a local Jewish security agency. The group discovered threatening posts on Twitter, and brought that information to law enforcement.
“Christopher Brown has been held accountable for his plan to commit a violent, antisemitic terrorist attack,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Wednesday. “Thankfully, we were able to intervene and prevent him from following through, which is the result of the close partnership we have with our law enforcement partners on the local and federal level. I want Manhattan’s Jewish community to know that we are remaining extremely vigilant against threats of violence during this time of rising antisemitism, and our Terrorism and Hate Crimes Units are continuing to conduct proactive investigations to keep everyone safe.”
On Twitter, Brown had expressed intent to “shoot up a synagogue,” saying, “This time I’m really gonna do it,” court records and the district attorney’s office said. Brown also expressed support for Nazism, and considered getting a swastika tattoo on his heart, the district attorney’s office said. He also indicated a desire to imitate the 2019 white supremacist mass shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Brown’s co-defendant, Matthew Mahrer, is Jewish and the descendant of a Holocaust survivor. Mahrer’s attorney has said that he would not want to harm his own people. That case is still pending.
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