Driver repeatedly rams NY synagogue
The New York Police Department and the Justice Department are examining whether a possible hate crime occurred after a vehicle repeatedly struck the door of Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn on Wednesday. (Daniel David Yeroshalmi via Storyful)
A 36-year-old man, identified by police as Yogesh Sayrange, is accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at two houses of worship in Queens and a nearby commercial property late Wednesday before officers took him into custody with additional incendiary devices, according to police and law enforcement sources.
Authorities say Sayrange first targeted Iglesia Bautista El Mesias in Ozone Park shortly before 11 p.m. Surveillance footage appears to show him speaking with three men before igniting a Molotov cocktail and tossing it over the front gate toward the church entrance.
The device caught fire near the front door, after which Sayrange walked away, according to surveillance video published by the New York Post.
Police say Yogesh Sayrange allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at the church late Wednesday night. (Google Maps)
The FDNY confirmed to INC News that it received a report at 11:57 p.m. Wednesday of an incendiary device being thrown at a church on 75th Street in Ozone Park. Fire marshals and the NYPD are continuing to investigate.
Police said Sayrange then traveled less than a mile to a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in nearby Woodhaven, where he is accused of throwing another Molotov cocktail at the building’s front entrance, causing a second fire.
The FDNY also confirmed to INC News that a second call came in at 12:08 a.m. Thursday for a reported incendiary device thrown at a church on 78th Street in Woodhaven. Fire marshals and NYPD investigators are reviewing the incident.
A Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Woodhaven neighborhood of Queens. Police allege the building was targeted in a second Molotov cocktail attack late Wednesday. (Google Maps)
Police said no injuries or significant damage were reported at either church.
Investigators later determined Sayrange also allegedly threw a third Molotov cocktail at an ambulance service building on Rockaway Boulevard near 77th Street in Woodhaven around the same time, police said.
No injuries or damage were reported there, police said.
Officers took Sayrange into custody at about 12:10 a.m. Thursday and recovered two additional Molotov cocktails from his backpack, according to police sources.
Investigators are also examining whether Sayrange may be connected to several similar incidents dating back to last month, according to law enforcement sources. Authorities have not publicly announced any additional cases tied to him.
An NYPD van parked on a street in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, N.Y., April 27, 2025. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sayrange appeared in federal court Thursday on charges he threw an incendiary device into a Brooklyn business June 25.
INC News has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for additional information about the Queens investigation.
