NEWS
Man charged with hate crime in window-smashing at synagogue, Jewish Community Center
Police: Family said suspect had mental health issues, antisemitic leanings
Published
Modified
An sa国际传媒官网网页入口 man is charged with a hate crime and police are seeking to seize his guns after he allegedly smashed the windows at a synagogue and the Jewish Community Center within a half-hour span Tuesday.
Rex Crofton, 25, is also charged with desecration of a church and two counts of criminal damage to property over $1,000. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Wednesday. His family could not be reached and it was unclear if he has an attorney.
Prosecutors filed a motion to detain Crofton until trial.
"Defendant wanted to bring rage and violence to a place of peace and comfort, and was fortunate to only damage security doors," according to the motion. "We cannot know what kind of destruction or injury Defendant would have caused if he had been able to enter the building."
On Thursday, an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 police officer petitioned for an Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order to remove several firearms, including rifles and handguns, from Crofton's home, according to court records. The officer cited the vandalism and past domestic violence cases against Crofton along with his reported diagnosis of bipolar disorder and multiple personality disorder.
In an interview with an FBI agent, Crofton's family said he began to express "extreme antisemitic views" in the past year and had most of his social media accounts banned due to such posts.
Relatives told the agent that, an hour before the vandalism, Crofton was "in a state of mania" and said he was "going to kill Jews," according to court records. Relatives told the agent that a half-hour after the vandalism he texted them "I just hit two synagogues in 5 minutes," then added "send the cops my way I'd love to kill all of them."
About 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, a 911 call came in reporting that a man smashed the bullet-resistant front doors of Congregation Albert synagogue on Louisiana NE, just south of Montgomery, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. The rabbi told officers that a man arrived in a silver car, smashed the windows and "flipped off" the synagogue before leaving.
Police said the facility's director estimated the glass doors would cost between $100,000 and $200,000 to replace but could not access surveillance footage. FBI agents arrived and told the officer their "presence was no longer required."
About 10 minutes after the first call, a second 911 call reported that a man with an ax had broken the front doors of the Jewish Community Center on Wyoming NE, just south of Academy. Witnesses told police a man in a silver car began attacking the front doors with a sledgehammer before fleeing from security.
A security guard told them they chased the man into the parking lot and used pepper spray on him before he drove off, according to the complaint. The security guard estimated the damage to the glass at around $40,000.
Police said surveillance video showed a man speed into the parking lot and begin striking the front doors with "an unknown object" that officers believed was a crowbar. Detectives ran the license plate of the car and it came back as registered to Crofton.
Surveillance video of the suspect matched the description of Crofton, according to the complaint, and the car was caught on a license plate reader several blocks away from Congregation Albert, minutes before the vandalism.
