Minneapolis police arrest man for ‘terroristic threats’ made to synagogue on Rosh Hashanah

(JTA) — The Minneapolis Police Department on Friday arrested a 21-year-old man for making “terroristic threats” against a local synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, three weeks after the man allegedly threatened to “shoot up” the synagogue.

Jaden LeBlanc’s arrest occurred a day after a member of Temple Israel’s security team reported spotting a man with a gun outside the Reform synagogue during holiday services.

Investigators concluded that the man, who fled the scene without firing a shot, was the same person who had been behind threatening phone calls made to Temple Israel on Sept. 11, which MPD Chief Brian O’Hara said had been carried out “using an app to spoof phone calls.” O’Hara said MPD did not locate a weapon and did not know why LeBlanc targeted the synagogue.

“We do not have evidence to suggest that this incident was antisemitic in nature or motivated by hate or bias,” O’Hara said during a press conference on Saturday. “However, it is especially concerning the time that this occurred.”

Reached for additional comment, the MPD pointed to its statement and press conference.

High alert for US Jews

The incident comes at a moment of high alert for Jews in the United States, with tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza adding to longstanding concerns about security threats facing Jewish institutions. Like many synagogues, Temple Israel — where Minneapolis’ Jewish mayor, Jacob Frey, prayed on Rosh Hashanah — employs private security guards in addition to coordinating with local police.

The MPD convened Minneapolis synagogues, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas and other local Jewish leaders and students in September to develop a security plan for the High Holidays and the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7, and discussed measures to “enhance patrols around synagogues and community centers,” according to an MPD statement. A security officer working the special detail on Oct. 3, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, alerted police upon seeing the man, who the MPD says was LeBlanc.

LeBlanc fled the scene, police say, but was found and arrested the following day. He was booked into Hennepin County Jail. O’Hara said a weapon was not recovered during the police search.

Frey spoke alongside O’Hara and Temple Israel’s senior rabbi, Marcia Zimmerman, at the Saturday press conference.

“When you go to worship as a Jew, when you go to worship as any background, ethnicity, or religion, you want to do so with peace,” Frey said.

“For a Jew, during the High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the whole concept is to reflect [on] yourself over the last year — to determine how you can be your best version of self, where you can apologize to those who you have hurt, and to where you can be better yourself and better in your community to make the world a better place,” he added. “And doing that gets a whole lot harder if you’re worried about your safety and the safety of your loved ones.”

Zimmerman stressed the importance of sharing accurate information, which she said led her to take the unusual step of speaking at a press conference on Shabbat.

“Every religious community should be able to worship without fear, especially on the holiest days of their year,” she said. “A threat to any religious community is a threat to all of us.”

O’Hara said his department had been tracking other threats around the country — including “hoaxes,” a reference to the hundreds of false bomb threats and swatting incidents against Jewish institutions in the past year — but that MPD was not aware of any specific threats at this time.

In an email to congregants, Zimmerman and Temple Israel President Anne Stanfield acknowledged how “distressing” news of the threat to the synagogue would feel, especially with additional Jewish holidays approaching.

“We continue to be grateful for your ongoing commitment to our robust seen and unseen security measures,” they wrote, according to TC Jewfolk, a local Jewish publication. “In addition to our strong security protocols, we continue to believe that the best antidote to antisemitism is coming together through prayer, song, community, and pride in our Jewish identity.”