A Man Disrupted Shabbat Services at One of Manhattan’s Most Historic Synagogues. He’s Charged With a Hate Crime.
- 46 age of Larry Montes, of the Bronx, charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime — NY Post; Fox News (Michael Sinkewicz), Aug. 14–15, 2026
- ~6:00 PM when a man entered Central Synagogue on Lexington Avenue and struck a congregant during Friday Shabbat services — ABC7 New York (Crystal Cranmore)
- On The Spot an NYPD sergeant working a paid security detail inside the synagogue took the suspect into custody before he could leave the building — NY Post; CBS News New York (Adi Guajardo)
- Immediately how quickly Shabbat services resumed after the arrest, according to senior rabbi Angela Buchdahl — NBC New York
- Rising NYPD's own data shows anti-Jewish hate crimes climbing under Mayor Mamdani — a citywide trend this attack lands squarely inside — Jewish Insider (Will Bredderman), Aug. 3, 2026
On Friday evening, August 14, 2026, a man walked into Central Synagogue at 652 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in the middle of Shabbat services and, according to the NYPD, struck a congregant and damaged synagogue property. When a member of the synagogue’s security team moved to remove him, police say the man headbutted and spat on the security team member. An NYPD sergeant working a paid security detail inside the building took the man into custody on the spot — before he could leave.
Police identified the suspect as Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx. He is charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, among other charges the NYPD has not itemized publicly. No bail amount or arraignment date had been made public as of this writing, and Montes — like every defendant in a pending case — is presumed innocent unless and until a court says otherwise.
Witnesses described chaos inside the sanctuary. “He was screaming and yelling. I heard a loud pop… We thought it was a gun,” congregant Susan Roane told WCBS. “He was just ranting and raving and yelling,” said Arlynn Greenbaum, another worshipper. Once Montes was in custody, services simply continued.
Central Synagogue is not an anonymous address. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest continuously operating synagogues in the country and one of the most prominent Reform congregations in New York — a building whose Moorish Revival sanctuary has hosted presidents, funerals for national figures, and generations of the same families. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch made that personal history explicit in her own statement after the attack, describing the synagogue as somewhere she grew up attending.
“Central Synagogue is where I grew up. In joy and in sorrow, it has always been a place of comfort and peace... What happened there tonight is deeply painful. A place of worship should never be a crime scene.”
Jessica Tisch, NYPD Commissioner, statement following the attack
Senior Rabbi Angela Buchdahl framed the congregation’s response the same way — not as a moment that shut the building down, but one the community absorbed and kept moving through.
“It is a testament to the strength of our community that services resumed immediately.”
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi, Central Synagogue
The documented sequence, per NYPD and the outlets that reviewed the arrest: Montes allegedly struck a congregant, damaged property inside the synagogue, and then, as he was being physically removed by a member of the security team, headbutted and spat on that guard. That combination — an assault on a worshipper plus an assault on the person restraining him — is what produced two separate hate-crime assault counts rather than one, alongside the hate-crime criminal mischief charge tied to the property damage.
What isn’t in the record: any prior criminal history for Montes. None of the outlets that have covered this arrest report one, and this piece does not speculate about what isn’t there. No bail figure or arraignment date had been made public as of this writing. The open questions in this case are legal ones — how the charges hold up, whether prosecutors add to them, what bail a judge sets — not questions about a criminal record that, on the current public record, does not exist.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-NYC) condemned the attack directly: “This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.” New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) added, “No one should feel threatened in their place of worship.” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) called the attack “appalling” and said Jewish New Yorkers “have every right to worship openly, proudly, and without fear.”
I am horrified by the assault at Central Synagogue during services today... Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence.
Central Synagogue sits inside the congressional district Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY10) has represented for decades, and he weighed in directly on the significance of the target.
I'm deeply disturbed by tonight's attack on worshippers at Central Synagogue in my congressional district — one of the most prominent, historic, and influential synagogues in the country.
Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, put the attack in a wider context: “Antisemitism and threats against Jewish New Yorkers have reached alarming levels.”
This attack does not exist in isolation. Jewish Insider reported on August 3, 2026 — eleven days before Montes allegedly walked into Central Synagogue — that the NYPD’s own statistics show anti-Jewish hate crimes climbing since Mayor Mamdani took office, a trend that predates and now runs straight through this weekend’s attack. That backdrop has fed a live legislative fight in Albany over how New York’s bail law treats hate-crime defendants specifically. State Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein (D) has pushed legislation that would let judges set bail for defendants charged with hate crimes — a category New York’s current bail statute does not carve out on its own, leaving judges with less discretion in exactly the kind of case Montes now represents.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) runs an active Hate Crime Unit inside his office, but had not issued a statement on this specific case as of publication. Whether Montes is ultimately held, released, or offered bail will be one of the more closely watched outcomes of this case — not because of anything unique to Montes personally, but because it lands directly inside a policy debate state lawmakers are already having about whether New York’s bail law is built for hate-crime cases at all.
The mayor — Zohran Mamdani (D), sworn in January 2026, who condemned Friday’s attack directly and whose administration governs the city where NYPD’s own data shows anti-Jewish hate crimes climbing.
The NYPD — led by Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a non-partisan appointed official, whose officers made the on-scene arrest and whose department’s statistics document the citywide trend.
The Manhattan DA — Alvin Bragg (D), whose office runs an active Hate Crime Unit and will decide how this case is prosecuted, though it had issued no statement on it as of publication.
Nothing in this piece asserts any of these officials caused Friday’s attack. The point is narrower: the bail and hate-crime-charging framework these officials oversee is under live legislative debate, and this case now sits inside it.
A man identified as Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, allegedly struck a congregant and damaged property during Friday Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan, then headbutted and spat on a security-team member removing him. An NYPD sergeant on-site arrested him immediately; he now faces two hate-crime assault counts and a hate-crime criminal mischief count, with no bail figure or arraignment date yet public. Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-NYC), AG Letitia James (D), Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY10) all condemned the attack. It lands amid NYPD data showing anti-Jewish hate crimes rising citywide and a live Albany push, led by Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein (D), to let judges set bail specifically in hate-crime cases — a debate this case now sits squarely inside.
