New Mexico man charged with federal hate crime after attacking two Jewish facilities

A man has been charged with damaging religious property after he attacked two Jewish facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, earlier this month.

According to a Justice Department press release on Friday, 25-year-old Rex Crofton first arrived in a silver sedan at Congregation Albert, a Reform Jewish synagogue, at approximately 4:31 p.m. on June 2.

Upon exiting the vehicle, Crofton shattered the synagogue’s glass entry doors with a tool, flipped off the building, shouted an “indecipherable statement,” and fled the scene. Surveillance footage shows Crofton then arriving at another facility, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque, about eight minutes later, running to the front doors and hitting them with what appears to be a metal crowbar.

JCC security guards approached and chased after Crofton, prompting him to throw the crowbar into his sedan’s passenger window. One guard pepper-sprayed Crofton through the window before he drove out of the parking lot.

Following the incident, the JCC issued an emergency closure.

Court documents show that Crofton sent text messages to a family friend after the attacks, one reading, “I just hit two synagogues in 5 minutes," and another stating that he "would love to kill any police officers who intervened," according to the DOJ's report.

Albuquerque Police Department officers tracked Crofton down and arrested him at a local residence on June 3. A federal search warrant executed on his residence and vehicles revealed clothing, a torn Ukrainian flag with a swastika drawn on it and numerous weapons, including the crowbar-like tool he used in the attack, a revolver, a machete and brass knuckles.

Crofton is facing up to three years in prison if convicted. The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated the case with help from the Albuquerque Police Department.

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