The man accused of stabbing a rabbi nine times in Brighton could face civil rights charges in addition to the seven counts he has already faced, Suffolk Prosecutor Rachael Rollins said.
“The Civil Rights Division of the Boston Police Department works closely with our office,” Rollins said, adding, “We have contacted ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) and a number of other individuals and partners at the federal, local and state levels. ”
Prosecutors said they all had to “slowly unpack what the motivation might have been”.
Khaled Awad, 24, an Egyptian citizen, is accused of weaponizing Rabbi Shlomo Noginski just before 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in front of Shaloh House, a Jewish day school on Chestnut Hill Avenue, and telling him to enter get in the school van. That’s what Assistant District Attorney Margaret Hegarty said.
Noginski ran away, but Awad tracked and stabbed him repeatedly before being arrested in a nearby alley where he confronted police with guns drawn, Hegarty said.
“After a brief but tense moment, the suspect lowered his gun and threw it to the ground,” she said.
Noginski, a father of 12 children, was admitted to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and has since been released and is recovering at home.
“It was certainly a harrowing, brazen act in broad daylight in our neighborhood, in this community where a member of our community was terrorized, persecuted and stabbed several times,” said Hegarty of the attack.
Awad, who lives in Brighton, was charged Friday in Brighton District Court on seven counts, including assault and murder; Attack and battery with a dangerous weapon, resulting in serious bodily harm; and carrying a dangerous weapon on school premises, according to court records.
He underwent a psychiatric evaluation prior to his indictment and was found fit to stand according to a forensic psychologist.
But his attorney, Richard Dyer, said Awad had a history of mental illness, and Dyer asked for another investigation.
Judge Myoung Joun ordered that Awad be held pending a July 8 hearing to determine if he was too dangerous to be released on bail.
Awad has no Massachusetts criminal record, but has been charged with battery and theft in Florida, Hegarty said.
Rollins praised the Boston police officers who confronted Awad with guns drawn and said they managed to de-escalate the situation without causing any deaths.
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