Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Brooklyn Bridge Gunman Admits Targeting Jews

The gunman who opened fire on a van filled with ultra-Orthodox Jews on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994 has reportedly finally admitted he wanted to kill Jews.

After years of spinning excuses, Rashid Baz told investigators he fired on the van, killing 16-year-old Ari Halberstam, on March 1, 1994 to avenge Israeli actions against the Palestinians, the New York Post reported.

Baz, a livery cab driver, denied that anti-Semitism was a motive and claimed he suffered from post-traumatic stress from growing up during the Lebanese civil war. A jury rejected that claim. He was convicted and is serving 141 years in prison.

In 2007, Baz finally confessed to the real reason for the attack, saying he followed the van filled with Jewish students because of an earlier West Bank attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinians.

Asked if he would have shot at a van of black or Latino people, Baz replied, “No, I only shot them because they were Jewish,” the paper said, without elaborating.

A ramp to the bridge was later renamed in memory of Halberstam.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/killer_jews_my_target_gOgyDs9rPP92Z5irIUqK1H#ixzz1qESfx89w

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.