Brooklyn, NY – A 41 year old Pennsylvania man has been charged in the fast moving Thursday morning Midwood fire that caused massive damage to three houses and left multiple families homeless.
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Menachem Karelefsky of McKeesport was arrested by the NYPD at approximately 1:30 this morning and charged with two counts of Attempted murder and one count of arson.
A former student at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin who renounced his Judaism and claims to have converted to Christianity, Karelefsky had a long standing grudge against Rabbi Jonathan Max, a teacher and former dorm counselor at the yeshiva.
As previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2wVYPIG), Karelefsky had publicly expressed his intention to kill Rabbi Max, allegedly setting the fire that had the E 17th Street home erupting in massive flames just after 4 AM.
The blaze quickly spread to the houses on both sides of Rabbi Max’s two family home, with 40 fire units and 170 firefighters responding to the four alarm blaze. Smoke detectors alerted residents of all three houses to the fire, with everyone evacuated safely, including a six week old infant who was rescued by the FDNY along with his parents.
Sources told VIN News that Karelefsky had a hit list of homes that he intended to torch, with NYPD stationing officers at those houses to ensure their protection.
Karelefsky was known to have a tattoo on his arm bearing the words “Never let go of the HATRED – KILL Rabbi Max YEMACH SHMO,” and had also been known to brag that the administration of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin considered him to be a security risk.
A screenshot of a series of text messages written by Karelefsky showed a photo of him smiling and captioned with the words, “Me killing Rabbi Max YEMACH SHMO…one reason that yeshiva has security guards is bec of me…”
It took three hours for firefighters to get the flames under control. More than ten people were hurt in the fire, although none sustained serious injuries.
Where was he caught?
This makes me sick to the stomach. This guy tells everyone his intention, and he puts a tattoo announcing his intention, and yet he was never taken seriously?? It is a sweet and wondrous miracle from Hashem that nobody got killed, and one can only hope that this dangerous accused criminal gets put away for a long time.
at least now its not a chilul hashem since hes christian crises
that black cop in white shirt smiling in front of the donuts is david wall the commander of the 70 precinct did he take this threat seriously?
This reminds me of 9/11, no one cares to connect the dots.
He has violent messages tattoo done to his body, and no one cares to report it. The tattoo parlor that did that job should be held accountable too