(CNN) — A man was arrested and charged in Washington DC on Sunday after he allegedly sprayed an unknown substance at two people while shouting an antisemitic phrase, police said.
Officers responded to an area of Northwest DC just before 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, found the suspect and arrested him, according to a statement from the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department. The site of the arrest appears to be near the Kesher Israel Congregation synagogue.
The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Brent Wood, who had a last known address in Toledo, Ohio. He was arrested and charged with simple assault and resisting arrest, police said in their statement.
“The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating this offense as being motivated by hate or bias,” the statement added.
CNN is working to determine whether Wood has legal representation at this time.
The arrest comes at a moment of heightened tension as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza continues. In the months since Hamas’ October 7 attack – and amid Israel’s ongoing siege of the enclave – reports of hate crimes and bias incidents targeting Jews, Muslims and Arabs are surging across the US.
The Anti-Defamation League said it recorded 2,031 antisemitic incidents in the two months after the October 7 attack. Those included reports of physical assault, vandalism and “anti-Israel rallies that included classically antisemitic, anti-Zionist and/or terror-supportive rhetoric.”
And the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have warned the ongoing war likely heightens the threat of violence during large public gatherings in the US this winter. Those include holiday-related, faith-based and New Year’s Eve events, the agencies said. US authorities have seen an “increase in hoax bomb and active shooter threats targeting synagogues,” which likely aim to disrupt events and “intimidate congregants,” the federal agencies said.
On the same day as the man’s arrest in Washington DC, police there confirmed to CNN that multiple synagogues in the city received threatening emails, but there was no credible threat.
The synagogue threats do not appear to be related to the assault incident, authorities said.
“Currently, there are no known credible threats, nor any intelligence indicating intent by any groups to attack or disrupt any religious or social institutions in the District of Columbia,” police told CNN in a statement when asked about the threats.
Still, police said they will have “increased visibility” around places of worship in the city to help ensure safety.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has also tracked a troubling rise in help requests and reports of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias in the time since the conflict’s start.
After recording an “unprecedented” spike in bias incidents during the first month of the Israel-Hamas war, the advocacy group said 2,171 requests for help and reports of bias were made to its national headquarters and chapters across the country since October 7. Those reports included incidents of hate crimes and hate speech, as well as workplace discrimination.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz and Chelsea Bailey contributed to this report.
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