The gun recovered in the case of a man who threatened online to shoot up a synagogue. Courtesy of U.S. attorney’s office

By Beth Harpaz September 18, 2024

A man charged in what prosecutors say was a planned terror attack on New York’s Jewish community pleaded guilty to gun possession Wednesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.

Christopher Brown, 23, pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan to criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree as a crime of terrorism, according to a statement from the office of District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr.

Brown pleaded guilty in exchange for a promised sentence of 10 years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision. The sentencing will take place Nov. 13.

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“Christopher Brown has been held accountable for his plan to commit a violent, antisemitic terrorist attack,” said Bragg in a statement. “Thankfully, we were able to intervene and prevent him from following through.” 

The man who supplied the gun

Another man involved in the incident, Jamil Hakime, was sentenced in February to 27 months in federal prison for selling the gun to Brown and another man, Matthew Mahrer.

Prosecutors said Hakime drove Brown and Mahrer to pick up the Glock pistol and 19 rounds of ammunition after Brown declared his intention on Twitter to “shoot up a synagogue.” Police saw the threat online and contacted Brown by cellphone as the trio drove from New York to Pennsylvania on Nov. 18, 2022.

Prosecutors said Hakime sold the gun to Mahrer and Brown for $650, showed them how to use it, then drove them back to Manhattan. Police arrested Brown and Mahrer at Penn Station and found the gun in the apartment where Mahrer lives with his parents. Brown was also carrying a bag containing a swastika armband and a hunting knife.

Grandson of a Holocaust survivor

Mahrer, who is Jewish, is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, Jerry Mahrer, who died in January at age 94. Jerry Mahrer was the youngest internee at Tittmoning, a Nazi camp in Germany for American prisoners where he was held when he was 13. 

Matthew Mahrer’s parents have said that Matthew is autistic, poses no danger to others and was manipulated into accompanying the other men charged in the case. Matthew knew Brown from a residential school they attended and he met Hakime when he was homeless for a period during New York’s pandemic shutdown.

The case against Mahrer remains “open and pending,” according to the DA’s office.

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