NY Cops Arrest Brooklyn Woman in Connection With Attempted Arson Attack on Jewish School
by Algemeiner Staff
Police in New York City have arrested a 39-year-old Brooklyn woman in connection with an attempted arson attack last week on a Jewish school in the Flatbush neighborhood.
The NYPD announced on Sunday that officers had arrested Sharee Jones on a hate crime charge, with additional charges for reckless endangerment and attempted arson.
A woman alleged to be Jones was captured on CCTV setting fire to Yeshiva of Flatbush on Avenue J at approximately 7.30 pm last Thursday. The woman, dressed entirely in black and carrying a red gasoline canister, was seen dousing the entrance to the school with gasoline before she lit a fire.
A security guard who was inside the school discovered the arson attack while it was still in progress, extinguishing the fire by pouring water on the flames before alerting the police. No one was reported injured by the flames.
Police are also investigating whether the alleged arsonist was the same woman spotted just before the fire at the corner of Avenue J and Nostrand Avenue who was photographed while carrying a red gas canister and yelling through a megaphone.
Local residents — who include the largest community of Holocaust survivors outside the state of Israel — were reported to be deeply shaken by the attack.
“As a result of occurrences like this, it just adds to the fire — if I dare say — of these occurrences happening and happening and other times when people do know what they’re doing. That’s what we’re worried about,” New York State Senator Simcha Felder told local ABC News.