Antisemitic hate crime suspect released without bail in NYC pellet gun attack: ‘How could that guy be in the streets?’ says boy’s mom

The Staten Island man charged with a hate crime for allegedly shooting a Jewish dad and his 7-year-old son with a pellet gun was released without bail Wednesday, leaving prosecutors frustrated and the boy’s mom fuming.

Jason Kish, 25, was arraigned on attempted felony assault as a hate crime — but because neither victim was seriously injured, a judge couldn’t set bail under the state’s criminal justice reform laws, said a spokesman for the Staten Island district attorney.

Jason Kish, who is accused of shooting a Jewish man and his son with BB pellets on Staten Island.

Kish is accused of rolling up to the Island Kosher grocery store on Victory Blvd. in Castleton Corners on Sunday and targeting Isaac Klein, 32, and his son Alexander. Cops say he used a gel-type BB gun to fire pellets at Klein and his son, who were both wearing yarmulkes.

Klein was hit in the chest, while Alexander was grazed in the ear.

“Wow. I was sure he’d be locked up,” said the boy’s mother, who didn’t give her name.

“How could that guy be in the streets if my son is still not sleeping at night? He’s up at night! He wanted to know what would’ve happened if it was a real gun,” she fumed in an interview with the Daily News on Wednesday.

“What am I gonna tell him, he’s back on the streets now? Because of the system? He’s a little kid. He doesn’t understand. He understands that he could’ve been shot dead. That’s what he understands.”

Andrew Crawford, a spokesman for Staten Island DA Michael McMahon, blamed Kish’s release on a confusing technicality that he described as “at best an oversight and at worst just total legislative malpractice by the Assembly and the Senate.”

Island Kosher grocery store on Victory Blvd. near Carmel Ave. in Castleton Corners on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022.

An amendment to the state’s 2020 bail reform laws made third-degree assault as a hate crime bail-eligible, but attempted second-degree assault as a hate crime — a more serious offense — is not, he said.

“We’re [of] the opinion that the Legislature just messed up and didn’t do a very good job in making the changes that they wanted to make,” Crawford said, adding that prosecutors asked for $25,000 cash bail or $75,000 bond.

“We don’t have the serious physical injury part,” he added.

Kish’s lawyer Mark Fonte stopped short of admitting his client fired the pellet gun, but said the incident was no hate crime.

“The law is clear that just because the victim in an incident is of a certain religion, race — that in and of itself is insufficient to make out that it’s a hate crime,” he said.

Typically, he says, police and prosecutors can seek hate crime charges if there’s a slur yelled, a defendant makes incriminating statements after the arrest or if there are social media posts expressing a bias, Fonte said.

“None of that exists here,” he insisted. “It appears that whoever did this shooting was involved in random acts of stupidity and not targeting because of race or religion. I believe the NYPD jumped to conclusions without assessing the entire situation.”

Content Source

California Press News – Latest News:
Los Angeles Local News || Bay Area Local News || California News || Lifestyle News || National news || Travel News || Health News

Related Articles

Back to top button