Man Charged Caught on Video Assaulting Scrambling Synagogue Congregants: ‘Spat and Headbutted’

A Bronx man was charged with hate crimes after allegedly assaulting people inside a synagogue, and it was all caught on camera.

CNN national correspondent Rafael Romo reported on the story on Saturday, showing footage obtained from the church by affiliate WCBS.

According to authorities, Larry Fontes entered the Central Synagogue in Manhattan on Friday and began screaming at and assaulting people during Shabbat services. The motive for the attack is currently unclear.

“As synagogue security was escorting him out, he struck a member of the congregation, damaged synagogue property, and then spit at and head-butted a member of the security team,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.

No one was seriously injured in the attack. Fontes, 46, is facing two counts of assault as a hate crime, a count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, and more.

Footage from the church shows people scrambling as the man was screaming and fighting with security.

One witness said they thought the man who entered the synagogue had a gun at first.

“He was screaming and yelling, I heard a loud pop and the first thing I heard, we thought it was a gun,” Susan Roan said.

Another witness, named Arlynn Greenbaum, added, “When I saw he wasn’t armed, I mean he was just ramming and raving and yelling and it looked like a maniac, but I wanted to go undercover.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was “horrified” by the attack.

“Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence. This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe,” the mayor wrote in a statement on X.

As Romo noted in his report, the synagogue is just the latest example of an increase in anti-semitic acts in recent years, according to trackers like the Anti-Defamation League.

Romo reported:

According to a May report by the Anti-Defamation League, there were nearly 6,300 incidents of anti-semitic assaults, harassment and vandalism in 2025, an average of 17 incidents per day. But vandalizing and harassment declined substantially from the previous year, resulting in a 33% decline in all types of incidents recorded by the ADF.

The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia was also targeted this week in an anti-semitic act. Philadelphia police said a male suspect wrote an anti-semitic message across a sculpture outside the museum.

Watch above via CNN.

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