A 17-year-old student was arrested at Renaissance Charter School in New York City after police said an antisemitic email threat was sent to more than 300 students, and the teen was charged with making a terroristic threat and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.
According to New York Police Department and law enforcement sources, officers from the NYPD 115th Precinct responded to a 911 call shortly after 12:30 p.m. for a possible bias incident at the school’s campus in Jackson Heights. School administrators told responding officers that a student had used a school email account to distribute the threatening message to hundreds of recipients.
The student was taken into custody at the school and booked at the precinct just before 3:30 p.m., the reports said.
NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force investigating the incident
Police said the case was being handled as a possible bias incident and involved the Hate Crimes Task Force.
Local reporting described the email as explicitly threatening Jewish people, including “Kill all the Jews,” and indicated the message circulated to more than 300 students.
As of Tuesday, the student’s arraignment was still pending in Queens Criminal Court, according to local reporting.
New York State law defines “making a terroristic threat” as threatening a specified offense with intent to intimidate or coerce while causing a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of the offense.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who represents the district in which the school resides, said on social media that the antisemitic threat was “deeply disturbing,” adding that she was relieved that nobody was harmed and that she was working with school leaders and law enforcement.
The arrest came as new police statistics have shown that antisemitic hate crimes in New York City rose sharply in January 2026 compared to January 2025.