Rashad Baz, the Lebanese national charged with second degree murder, attempted murder and various weapons charges in the shooting of four Lubavitch students March 1, faced an almost empty courtroom as he entered his plea of not guilty this week.
Rabbi Sholem Hecht, a Lubavitch spokesman, said that due to the celebration of Passover, some 30 or 40 Lubavitchers who came to the Manhattan courtroom arrived too late.
The hearing was held at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Hecht said. But because the first days of Passover ended only Monday night after sunset, the Lubavitchers were only able to find out about the hearing Tuesday morning.
Baz, 28, was ordered held without bail for the murder of Aaron Halberstam, a 16-year-old student, and for wounding Nachum Sossonkin, 18, who remained in “very critical” condition this week.
The teens were shot while riding in a van as it drove across the Brooklyn Bridge after a visit to a Manhattan hospital to pray on behalf of the Lubavitcher rebbe, the sect’s ailing leader.
Also pleading not guilty were two Jordanian men, Hilal Mohammed and Bassam Reyati. Both are charged with hindering prosecution and weapons possession, but are free on bail.
Baz’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 6, when he can seek bail, and Hecht promised that the Lubavitchers would be out in force for that hearing.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
