NEW YORK – Two men who were arrested at New York’s Penn Station after authorities found social media posts about a synagogue attack posed a real danger to the city’s Jewish community, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday .
“This was not an idle threat,” Adams said at a news conference along with officials from the FBI, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other agencies involved in the arrests of Christopher Brown, 21, and Matthew Mahrer, 22, on charges including including criminal possession of a weapon.
“This was a real threat,” he said.
According to the criminal complaint against him, Brown made a series of threats on Twitter, including on Thursday: “I’m going to ask a priest if I should get married or shoot up a synagogue and die,” and then on Friday. , “This time I really will.
Authorities linked the tweets to Brown, of Aquebogue, Long Island, and identified Mahrer, of Manhattan, as an associate, said Michael Driscoll, director of the FBI’s New York office.
A description of Brown and Mahrer was sent to law enforcement and two MTA police officers saw the two at Penn Station Friday night and arrested them, police said.
Brown was carrying a large military-style knife, a balaclava and a swastika patch on his arm when he was arrested, authorities said.
According to the complaint, a bag containing a Glock-style pistol with a high-capacity magazine and 17 rounds was seized from Mahrer’s apartment building. Surveillance video from shortly before their arrests showed Brown and Mahrer entering the building, with Mahrer carrying his purse, according to the criminal complaint.
Brown, who was charged with making a terrorist threat in addition to the weapons charges, told police he leads a white supremacist group on Twitter and that Mahrer is one of his followers, according to the complaint.
“I have Nazi paraphernalia in my house. I think it’s really cool,” Brown told police, according to the complaint.
Brown said he and Mahrer met at St. Patrick’s Cathedral before buying a gun because he “wanted to get the blessing,” according to the complaint.
Both men were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court over the weekend and will return to court on Wednesday. Federal charges against him could be filed later, Driscoll said.
Phone messages seeking comment were left with Brown and Mahrer’s attorneys.
Adams, a Democrat and former police officer, said threats against Jews or any other group should be taken seriously after attacks such as the Buffalo supermarket shooting and the Saturday shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
“America must defeat the growing threat of domestic terrorism,” Adams said. “It’s real, it’s here, and we have to have a formidable approach.”
