A trio of troublemakers sped through Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in a white car shooting pellet guns and gel guns at people dressed in traditional Hasidic Jewish garb, hitting at least seven persons over a two-day possible hate crime spree, a police source said.
Making matters worse, the hateful incidents occurred during Passover week.
Loyall White, 53, and Jermaine Lincoln and Iesha Cintron, both 30, were arrested yesterday after they shot two Hasidic Jewish men the day before with a gel gun from a white Mitsubishi in separate incidents as the men walked down the street in Williamsburg, the police source said. Cops then linked the vehicle to a spate of similar attacks the day before that in which five Hasidic Jewish victims were shot with a pellet gun in the same area, and determined the perpetrators were the same in both incidents, according to the source.
On Thursday a 24-year-old man dressed in traditional clothing called 911 and reported that someone in a white car had shot him in the head with a gel gun while he was walking near Hewes St. and Broadway, the source said. Later a 30-year-old man reported he too had been shot at from a white car but not hit about a mile down the road from the first incident, at Thornton St. and Broadway.
The day before, a 20-year-old man and two 21-year-old men told police someone shot them with a pellet gun out of a moving car near Throop Ave. and Gerry St. A 20-year-old woman and her 19-year-old brother also reported being shot with a pellet gun from a car outside a synagogue near Lee Ave. and Wallabout St., the source said.
Cops identified the car, from which they recovered two gel guns, police confirmed.
It was not immediately clear who owned the vehicle, which has racked up 48 traffic violations since 2023, many for speeding in a school zone.
White, Lincoln and Cintron were arrested Friday and their arraignment at Brooklyn criminal court was pending Saturday afternoon. The Brooklyn district attorney will determine if they will be charged with hate crimes.
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