A man armed with a knife and a baseball bat entered a Brooklyn Heights Chabad on Wednesday and was removed from the premises by people at the scene before police arrived.
No injuries were reported, and no broader threat to the site or the public was identified.
The man, who is apparently not Jewish, entered the building wearing a kippah and holding the knife and bat, prompting a quick reaction from worshippers and bystanders, who confronted him and removed him from the building before police arrived and arrested him.
Chabad Lubavitch posted on X/Twitter shortly after the footage was released, refuting the claim that "an attack was thwarted." The official Chabad account explained "an individual was removed from the Chabad Headquarters synagogue today. He is well known to the Police Department and to 770 Security, and he does not appear to be stable."
They added that "He was arrested today, and at this time, this does not appear to be related to any broader threat or security concern."
The incident occurred on a ceremonial date for the Chabad community, the 75th anniversary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's ascension to the leadership of the movement.
This incident is another violent episode that has occurred at the Chabad headquarters this year.
January car ramming incident
In January, a man rammed his car into the building's entrance.
Dan Sohail, 36, of Carteret, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in May to intentionally damaging the Chabad center.
That incident also occured on a ceremonial date for the Chabad community, the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, the annual anniversary of the passing of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who passed away in 1950. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was Rabbi Yitzchak's son-in-law and assumed the leadership role a year later.
James Genn, Fraidy Moser, and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.