NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Utah man was stopped at the Lincoln Tunnel on Friday evening after he allegedly made threats to shoot up a prominent New York City synagogue, sources told 1010 WINS.
The NYPD got word that Luis Ramirez was headed for Manhattan and he was stopped at the tunnel by Port Authority, police said. The 23-year-old had no guns when he was arrested and is now awaiting arraignment on federal charges.
WABC reported that Ramirez had been stopped earlier on his road trip in Kansas City, where police did discover a gun.
Ramirez is accused of posting antisemitic threats online that targeted synagogues in the city. Specifically mentioned in the series of threats was Central Synagogue, located on Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street in Midtown, sources said.
On X, Ramirez allegedly wrote in all caps on Friday that “If you try to kill me again today in NYC when I pull up to Shabbat I will kill you first and condemn you to hell.”
The social media posts also refer to their author as being both “Jesus” and “Adolf Hitler” in a past life, and include explicit threats to the Jewish community.
According to the New York Post, Ramirez is being held at Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny and is expected to be arraigned Saturday. The report said that police were tipped off to Ramirez’s alleged threats by a security program run by regional Jewish organizations, the Community Security Initiative.
Police said that Ramirez has no prior criminal history.