In a disturbing incident that unfolded over the span of 11 minutes in Brooklyn, three Muslim individuals, including a 12-year-old girl, were viciously attacked by a woman spewing hateful slurs, urging them to “go back to your country,” authorities reported on Thursday.
The unsettling series of events commenced outside a preschool on Fifth Avenue near 89th Street in Bay Ridge at approximately 2:25 p.m. on Friday. A 33-year-old woman, who was wearing a hijab—a traditional headscarf worn by many Muslim women—was kicked by an unknown assailant, according to police reports.
Shortly thereafter, the same aggressor targeted a 39-year-old woman, shoving her from behind as she was about to board a B53 bus a few blocks away near 92nd Street and Gelston Avenue. This attack occurred just eight minutes after the first incident.
In a span of merely three more minutes, the attacker struck again, punching a 12-year-old girl in the face a block away on Fort Hamilton Parkway and 92nd Street, law enforcement officials stated.
The assailant managed to escape initially, but by Wednesday, police had apprehended 34-year-old Megan Horne from Staten Island. She now faces multiple charges, including assault and aggravated harassment, both classified as hate crimes.
Expressing his condemnation of the attacks, Mayor Mamdani took to social media platform X late Wednesday, stating, “I am outraged by the despicable, cowardly attacks against Muslim New Yorkers. This violence is unacceptable, and we know that all too often visibly Muslim, hijab-wearing women and girls bear the brunt of it.”
None of the victims were seriously hurt. During each incident, the attacker yelled “Go back to your country!” Councilwoman Kayla Santosuosso (D-Bay Ridge) said.
“I can only imagine the lasting fear and trauma that this has caused,” Santosuosso wrote on X.
Horne was previously arrested for punching and shoving a 64-year-old woman she didn’t know back on Oct. 5, but that incident was not considered a bias crime, officials said.
Her arraignment on Friday’s assaults was pending in Brooklyn Criminal Court Thursday.
“Grateful to see an arrest made in the disgusting, Islamophobic attacks in Bay Ridge,” Gov. Hochul posted on social media Wednesday. “No New Yorker, especially a child, should ever be targeted because of their faith. We will continue to crack down on hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law.”
