Police in Williamsburg arrested two teens who were apprehended by the volunteer Shomrim Patrol following a violent attack Monday night, the second such attack in two weeks.
Moshe Guttman, 44, was attacked in the same area where Joel Weinberger was brutally assaulted on Thanksgiving Day, near Beer HaTorah yeshiva on Wallabout Street and Harrison Avenue around 11 p.m. as he was leaving a Chanukah party. The attackers fled after Guttman started screaming and the Shomrim caught the suspects as they ran.
The youths, ages 14 and 15, later confessed to detectives at the 90th Precinct that they were involved in the assault on Weinberger that left him badly injured with a fractured jaw, as well as three other attacks, sources said. The New York Post identified the suspects as Brian Pena and Pete Montanez.
Both youths face hate crimes charges as juveniles but community leaders are calling on Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes to charge them as adults because of the seriousness of the attacks.
