A pair of arrests at New York Metropolis’s Penn Station prevented a “developing threat” to the Jewish neighborhood, the top of the NYPD introduced Saturday.
Christopher Brown and Matthew Mahrer had been stopped on the bustling transit hub in a single day, the previous suspected of posting on-line threats, two senior regulation enforcement sources instructed Information 4. The sources additionally stated Brown was in possession of a swastika armband.
Brown, of Aquebogue, Long Island, had been recognized only a day earlier after making the alleged threats. His on-line posts had been uncovered by the FBI/NYPD Joint Terrorism Activity Power, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell stated in an announcement.
Mahrer was allegedly arrested in possession of a knife, and a subsequent search of his Higher West Facet residence turned up a handgun, sources stated.
“By early Saturday, the NYPD’s exhaustive intelligence-gathering led to the arrest by sharp-eyed MTA police officers of two individuals entering Penn Station, in Manhattan, and the seizures of a large hunting knife, an illegal Glock 17 firearm and 30-round magazine, and several other items,” Sewell stated.
Investigators are attempting to decide which of the 2 males the gun belongs to, as each males believed got here and went from the house not too long ago, sources stated. Each face weapons prices; solely Brown is prices of aggravated harassment and making a terroristic menace, police stated.
Sewell counseled the work of her division’s officers, and stated police commanders can be “strategically deploying assets at sensitive locations throughout New York City” within the wake of the arrests.