Woman who sent anti-Semitic package to congressman killed by police

An Atlanta-area woman who sent a threatening package with an anti-Semitic note to a U.S. congressman was killed after attacking a police officer.

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(JTA) — An Atlanta-area woman who sent a threatening package with an anti-Semitic note to a U.S. congressman was killed after attacking a police officer.

Jameela Barnette, 53, attacked a police officer with a knife and a gun when he knocked on the door of her apartment after responding to a call about an alarm. The officer shot her with his service weapon, The Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Barnette, who was Muslim, in April mailed a bloody pig’s foot and an anti-Semitic note to U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee, in the wake of hearings that King held in March to investigate what the congressman characterized as the "radicalization" of the American Muslim community.

The letter, which reportedly was full of anti-Semitic sentiment, also reportedly referred to King as Jew. King, who has served in Congress since 1993, is not Jewish.

She was also accused of sending a stuffed Curious George doll to New York State Sen. Greg Ball, who chaired a separate state legislative hearing on terrorism at which King spoke. The doll had two Stars of David taped to it with a note saying “Final Destination: Auschwitz,” Politico reported.

“I knew the Jews were behind the hearings. A monkey is a representation of who the Jews are,” she was quoted as saying, according to The Marietta Daily Journal.
 

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