Massachusetts
Feds charge Massachusetts man for calls threatening Jews with ‘genocide’
Federal agents arrested a man who allegedly called Jewish institutions in Massachusetts and threatened them with “genocide” because he believed they were supporting genocide of the Palestinians.
“Guess what? We are going to use your logic — if you can kill the Palestinians, we can kill you,” was one of a number of statements John Reardon, 59, allegedly left on a voicemail for Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, Massachusetts on Jan. 25.
“If you can bomb their f**king places of worship we can bomb yours, if you can kill their children we can kill yours,” Reardon, of Millis, Massachusetts, allegedly said.
The allegations were detailed in a release posted Monday by the office of Joshua Levy, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts. Levy tied the alleged calls to reports of a massive spike in antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
“The allegations here about the series of threats Mr. Reardon made against the Jewish community are deeply disturbing and reflect the increasing torrent of antisemitism across our country and right here in Massachusetts,” Levy said in the release posted Monday, the same day Reardon appeared in court in Boston. “The numbers do not lie — incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia are spiking.”
FBI: we respect freedom of speech, thought, but not threats to life
Reardon allegedly promised to retaliate against Jews with genocide and to bomb places of worship.
“You do realize that by supporting genocide that means it’s ok for people to commit genocide against you,” was another of his alleged statements.
Reardon allegedly called one other synagogue and a Jewish-affiliated institution before he was arrested on Thursday. He was charged with “[u]sing a facility of interstate commerce to threaten a person or place with harm via an explosive.”
“No one should have to fear becoming the victim of physical violence at the hands of an angry stranger,” Jodi Cohen, an FBI agent, said in the release. “While the FBI does not and will not police ideology, we take all threats to life seriously, and so should anyone thinking about making one.””
Massachusetts
Mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Cape Cod said to be largest in Massachusetts history
Rescuers were working to save around 30 bottlenose dolphins that got stranded off the coast of Cape Cod early Monday morning. It is the largest known stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Massachusetts, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The dolphins had become stranded between First Light and Ellis Landing in Brewster at about 5:30 a.m. when they came in with the tide. A woman noticed the animals and reported it. The IFAW quickly responded to the area, but five to six of the marine mammals died before help arrived.
The IFAW worked throughout the day on Monday to get the mammals away from the shoreline before the next low tide at 5:13 p.m. They said late Monday afternoon that they were still successfully being steered away.
“Our team remains in the area to monitor and herd the animals away from shore,” an IFAW spokesperson said. “We know these events can sometimes repeat in the coming hours and days, but we remain hopeful.”
The organization said it had seen an uptick in bottlenose dolphins becoming stranded off Cape Cod in the last few years.
“Bottlenose dolphins are typically an offshore species,” the spokesperson said.
They asked that anyone who encounters a stranded or distressed marine mammal not get close and never drag or push the animal back into the water.
“Similar to a person involved in a car accident, dolphins can become injured and exhausted during a stranding event,” the IFAW said.
Instead, they recommend calling their IFAW stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
A man has died following an apparent drowning at a pond in Randolph, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
The Randolph police and fire departments received a 911 call at around 4 p.m. for a swimmer in distress in the water on Pond Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office..
Firefighters located the man a short time later, officials added, and he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Kingston Fire Department had said just before 4 p.m. that their dive team was activated for a missing swimmer in Randolph, but that the activation was canceled after the swimmer was located.
Further information is not being released at this time, including the man’s name.
Massachusetts State Police detectives and the Randolph Police Department are investigating.
Firefighters in Lawrence, Massachusetts are working to contain a fire that damaged at least three buildings on Sunday afternoon.
Lawrence Fire Chief Patrick Delaney said they received multiple 911 calls about the buildings on fire at the intersection of Haverhill and Margin Street at about 12:45 p.m.
When firefighters arrived, there were three occupied multi-family buildings with heavy fire.
“Crews did an excellent job once they arrived on scene to make sure we did a primary search of all three buildings, make sure everybody was out,” Chief Delaney said.
No injuries have been reported. It is unclear how many people have been displaced from the three buildings that were on fire.
Chief Delaney said the firefighters were impacted by the hot weather.
“The crews are working extremely hard, they’re taking a lot of heat in all three fire buildings and we’re trying to get crews in here to make sure that they’re safe and give them some relief,” Chief Delaney said.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters from other nearby communities responded for mutual aid.
“We’re at a fourth alarm which brings a lot of resources to our city, but they’re well needed in a fire like this,” Chief Delaney said.
Police are asking residents to avoid the area of Haverhill Street at Margin Street because of the fire.
Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city about 30 miles north of Boston.
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