(Bloomberg) -- A gunman entered the home of a rabbi near Detroit and threatened him, his family and a group of University of Michigan students gathered for Rosh Hoshanah. No one was injured.
Police in Southfield, Michigan, responded to a call at 10:40 p.m. on Oct. 2 that a gunman entered a home where more than 20 members of the Jewish community had gathered, Deputy Chief Aaron Huguley said in an interview. The people in the home escaped and no one was injured, but a purse was stolen, Huguley said.
While police said there was no evidence so far that the attack was motivated by antisemitism, it occurred after several recent incidents of assault or vandalism against Jewish students at the University of Michigan and other US colleges. Jewish groups at Michigan — whose Ann Arbor campus is located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Southfield — have resorted to setting up their own security groups and offering rewards for information that could lead to arrests.
Officers in Southfield arrested one person allegedly connected to the incident but haven’t apprehended the gunman. An investigation is underway and the police are treating the episode as a robbery.
“We don’t have anything that points in the direction of a targeted attack against the Jewish community,” Huguley said. “The motive appears to be to take things.”
Betar, a Jewish group, disagreed, describing the Southfield incident as antisemitic and said it was the latest in a string of recent incidents involving University of Michigan students. The Southfield gathering was being held at the home of a rabbi, Betar said.
After a student was assaulted at the school in September, Betar and other groups collectively offered $1,800 for information to help find suspects. Jewish students have also organized their own security network to connect people walking in similar areas so they can travel in groups to ensure safety.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators targeted members of the university’s Board of Regents in the spring, staging protests at at least one home, according to the school.
While the university echoed Southfield police in saying that “the incident does not appear to be motivated by antisemitism,” it vowed to strengthen security at certain locations during the Jewish High Holidays.
“We are working individually with the students who were involved in the Southfield incident,” Colleen Mastony, the school’s assistant vice president of public affairs, said in a statement. “We also are in touch with parents and families, and faith-based organizations.”
Antisemitic incidents have increased in the US following Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the Jewish state’s ensuing invasion of Gaza.
(Updates with security measures taken by Jewish community in the third paragraph)
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