Over 100 tires slashed

An unprecedented number of tire slashings are being investigated by the police in Lakewood, NJ .

The footage broadcast by ABC shows a person in a hoodie using a knife to slash the tires. The surveillance footage clearly shows the hooded figure working rapidly as he slashes tires in a driveway in seconds. In total, over 150 tires on 56 cars have been slashed by the mysterious man. All of the victims are Orthodox Jewish families.

A large population of haredi or Orthodox Jews call Lakewood their home. It is home to one of the biggest yeshivas in the country. Police are calling it a hate crime.

Yitzchak Katz woke up to slashed tires on Sunday morning. He knew it was a targeted attack by a vandal. He also figured out that it wasn’t a random attack. He deduced this by walking down the block and saw that only the tires of cars in front of Jewish houses were slashed. He called it obvious.

Mordechai Yormark has said that regardless of which light you paint the crime, it’s a hate crime. He said he doesn’t want this to be pushed under the rug. This conclusion has been reached by police officers too who are now calling the slashing a hate crime.

One of the victims, Vitzy Weil, has said people stayed up all hours of night on watch as they were afraid their tires would get slashed.

Police believe the suspect was also involved in another slashing incident in the previous week. Over a dozen tires were slashed on cars belonging to Jewish families.

Lakewood, N.J. Police Searching For Suspect Wanted In Slashing Of Tires On 56 Cars Belonging To Orthodox Jews https://t.co/O6TncOZZ49 — victor camacho (@victorpleasee) August 12, 2019

Katz has said that it would be something if the suspect got something out of these hate crimes. However, he hasn’t stolen anything. All he has managed to do is damage other people’s property.

The community has put up a $2,000 reward for anyone who can identify the suspect. The community is also working alongside the police to construct a timeline so the suspect can be identified.

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