Detroit police said this week that they believe that there was no connection to terrorism or an ongoing threat from the stabbing murder of synagogue president Samantha Woll. The statement comes as a number of other incidents globally targeted Jewish sites or individuals.
Detroit Chief of Police James E. White said this week that the department currently believes that “there are no other groups or anyone else at risk in regard to this particular incident.”
He further said that the police believe that the attack “was not motivated by antisemitism and this suspect acted alone.”
Woll was found stabbed to death Saturday morning outside of her Detroit home.
The police chief said that there was not a current suspect, but that the police “certainly know that this is a dangerous person.”
The police indicated that the synagogue leader had arrived home late at night from a wedding and that they were “tracking her entire route digitally.”
Early indications are that Woll was attacked inside of her home and fell outside before collapsing. There were no signs of forced entry.
Detroit police on verge of naming suspect in brutal slaying of synagogue leader Samantha Woll https://t.co/Nrv2KyXz4l pic.twitter.com/SOJ0dC5smd
— New York Post (@nypost) October 23, 2023
Currently, the Detroit Police Department is cooperating with the FBI and the Michigan State Police in the investigation.
White added that the police would also investigate reports that there were several tires slashed in the same area over the weekend.
Woll had been both a local religious leader and a vocal supporter of Israel. She had also been involved in a number of political causes.
The weekend murder also came as a number of antisemitic attacks grew across the globe amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
A Jewish college student had his door set on fire in Philadelphia.
In France, a stabbing attack killed a teacher and injured two others. The suspect was a Muslim migrant known to police for having alleged Islamist sympathies. France entered into a state of heightened alert and banned protests supporting Hamas.
There have also been a number of rocket and drone attacks against American and Israeli targets in the Middle East over the last two weeks.
