A man is under arrest after police say he hurled Molotov cocktails at two religious sites in the Ozone Park and Woodhaven sections of Queens overnight, an attack that unfolded within a span of minutes but, authorities said, left no one hurt. Police were on the scene in the neighborhood into the morning, canvassing for evidence as they tried to piece together what had happened and why the two buildings had been singled out.
According to police, the suspect was ultimately caught and taken into custody. Officers identified him as a 36-year-old man and said that, when they stopped him, they found two additional Molotov cocktails inside his bag, along with other explosives on him. That discovery deepened the seriousness of a case that authorities said could easily have turned out far worse than it did.
The attack itself, police said, caused surprisingly little damage. In both instances, the Molotov cocktails bounced off the doors of the buildings and exploded on the ground rather than igniting the structures. No one was injured in either incident, and officials said the explosions did not cause any damage to the two sites that had been targeted.
The first device, according to police, was thrown just after 11:35 the previous night. Authorities said the man threw a Molotov cocktail at the door of the Iglesia Bautista El Mesias church on 75th Street in Ozone Park, one of two houses of worship that would be struck in quick succession that night.
From there, police said, the man moved on to a second location a short distance away. Authorities said he threw another Molotov cocktail at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on 78th Street in the nearby Woodhaven section, again aiming at the entrance of a place of worship in the same corner of Queens.
By morning, the investigation was still active at the scene. Police said NYPD detectives were on site taking photographs of evidence, and pointed to a dark smudge on the ground that officers were swabbing in an effort to gather more clues about exactly what had happened and how the devices had been used.
For now, the central question of motive remains unanswered. Police said the suspect was in custody with charges pending, but that it was still early in the investigation and that they did not yet know why he had targeted these specific locations. Officials said the inquiry was ongoing as they worked to determine what had driven the overnight attacks on the two religious sites.
As the investigation continued into the morning, detectives widened their focus. Police said they had now linked the suspect to a third location, this one on Rockaway Boulevard, which appeared to be a random building rather than a house of worship. There was no damage there either, and officials stressed that no one was hurt at any of the three locations tied to the suspect overnight.
At the first site, the attack left a tight-knit congregation shaken. The pastor of the Ozone Park church, who said it has been part of the community for more than 20 years and draws around 65 worshippers, described himself as shocked and confused as to why his church had been targeted. He noted that many children, around 20, often play outside the building, and said it was fortunate the incidents came very late at night, when no one was around. The moment, he said, was captured on surveillance video.
The case has since expanded well beyond Queens. Eyewitness News reported that the 36-year-old suspect is expected to face federal charges in Brooklyn, and that he had also been wanted in connection with the firebombing of a store in Brooklyn a couple of weeks earlier, an attack that police said was carried out while the person responsible wore a mask. Investigators indicated the earlier incident helped tie the suspect to the overnight attacks in Queens.