Brooklyn Bridge Shooting - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Brooklyn Bridge Shooting occurred on March 1, 1994. In the attack, Lebanese-born immigrant Rashid Baz

Rashid Baz

Rashid Baz is a Lebanese-born immigrant and convicted murderer who, in the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, shot and killed 16-year old Ari Halberstam on March 1, 1994, while driving on the ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge .-The Shooting:While driving on the approach ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge from the FDR...

shot at a van of 15 Chabad-Lubavitch

Chabad-Lubavitch

Chabad-Lubavitch is a Chasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. One of the world's larger and best-known Chasidic movements, its official headquarters is in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York...

Orthodox Jewish

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

students that was traveling on the Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...

. He used a Cobray semi-automatic pistol to strafe the van, and a Glock

Glock

Glock Ges.m.b.H. is a weapons manufacturer headquartered in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria, named after its founder, Gaston Glock...

9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol to shoot at students. He also had a 12-gauge Armsel Striker shotgun in his trunk.

Four students were shot. The two most serious included Ari Halberstam

Ari Halberstam

Ari Halberstam was a yeshiva student from a distinguished family associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, who was killed in a terrorist shooting in New York City....

, a sixteen-year-old, who died four days later from a shot to the head. The other student, also shot in the head, suffered permanent major speech impediments.

Amir Abudaif, an auto mechanic, reported the incident to the police. During the arrest, Baz was also found to be in possession of anti-Jewish literature, a .380-cal semiautomatic pistol, a stun gun, a bulletproof vest, and two 50-round ammunition magazines. Initially, Baz claimed a traffic dispute led him to commit the shootings, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

initially classified the case as road rage

Road rage

Road rage is an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions...

. However, at the trial, Baz pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense team also offered the theory that Baz was reacting to events in the Middle East. The jury rejected both defenses, and Baz was convicted of second degree murder and 14 additional counts of attempted murder in New York Supreme Court on December 1, 1994. He was sentenced to 141 years in prison.

Bassam Reyati, uncle of Baz and the owner of the car, was convicted of concealing evidence, and was sentenced to 5 years of probation and a $1,000 fine on October 16, 1996. Hilal Abd Al-Aziz Muhammad, owner of the car repair shop Baz used to hide the damage to his car, was convicted of concealing evidence and hindering prosecution. He was sentenced to five years of probation on May 17, 1995. Albert Jeanniton was convicted for illegally selling one of the guns obtained by Baz.

In 2000, U. S. District Attorney (Manhattan) Mary Jo White and the Federal Bureau of Investigation re-classified the attack as "the crimes of a terrorist."

See also