Khaled Awad, who stabbed a Boston rabbi on Thursday, was described by former college roommates and friends as violent and "viciously racist" against Jews, according to algemeiner.
Awad stabbed Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, a Chabad rabbi, eight times in front of a Jewish day school and synagogue.
Awad's former roommate Aidan Anderson, who is Jewish, told CBS4 that at first he was friends with Awad. However, one day Awad attacked him in their shared kitchen, prompting Anderson to move out and get a restraining order against him.
Another friend from college, Eric Valiente, described Awad as "violent" and "very much antisemitic," CBS4 reported.
According to Valiente, Awad “would say like all types of Jewish jokes. I thought he was joking at first and then I started to see seriousness in his comments.” He also described that he was scared of Awad because he realized he was "a very dark person."
Awad was arraigned on Friday and is being held without bail. Although he has no criminal record in Massachusetts, he was charged with battery and theft in Florida and confined to a mental health facility for a period of time.
Authorities have also opened a civil rights investigation to determine if the stabbing was a hate crime.
Rabbi Noginski suffered non-life threatening injuries and has left the hospital. Noginski said "it could have been so much worse" if he had not diverted Awad's attention away from the school and the children, the rabbi told CBS4.
The attack took place amid rising antisemitism in the US.
According to the Associated Press, Boston District Attorney Rachael Rollins said that, “we have to recognize that antisemitism is on the rise, and we need to hold people accountable when they do this, so that they are made an example of."