TOWSON, Md. (AP) - Officials said a Maryland man accused of robbing four Jewish teenagers also made an anti-Semitic statement during the confrontation with them.
Baltimore County Police announced the charges against Seneca Rice, 34, Tuesday. Police said Rice was armed with a knife when he approached the boys outside a mall in Towson last week and demanded their belongings.
That’s when the anti-Semitic statement was made to the victims, Baltimore County police Sgt. Vickie Warehime told WBAL-TV. The victims also told police that the suspect had also stolen a yarmulke, a skullcap worn by Jewish men, the news outlet reported. Police said the suspect fled the area after the boys gave him their items.
The alleged incident makes it “more terrifying for the kids to think they’re being targeted in some way because they’re wearing items of clothing that identify their faith,” Howard Libit, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, told the news outlet.
Rice is currently in custody in Baltimore City on unrelated charges. A detainer has been placed on him until the Baltimore city police conclude their investigation, the news release said.
“It is being investigated as a bias incident, which is our protocol for the county,” Warehime said. “If the charges through the state’s attorney’s office then go up to that hate crime level, that’s further down the road in our investigation.”
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