One shot and another arrested after clash at Massachusetts pro-Israel rally

A man was shot and sustained life-threatening injuries on Thursday in Newton, Massachusetts, after he tackled a pro-Israel demonstrator.

During a news conference on Thursday evening, Marian Ryan, the Middlesex district attorney, said that the incident took place at about 6.40pm on Thursday evening.

A small group of pro-Israeli demonstrators were on one side of the street, Ryan said, and a man, who has not been publicly identified, was walking on the other side of the street and started exchanging words with the group.

Words were “exchanged back and forth”, Ryan said, and then the incident escalated when the individual crossed the street and “jumped upon one of the demonstrators”.

“A scuffle ensued,” Ryan said, adding that during the confrontation the individual who had come across the street “was shot by a member of the demonstrating group”.

The individual sustained life-threatening injuries, and is being treated at a local hospital, she said.

The person who used the gun was identified on Thursday by authorities as 47-year-old Scott Hayes from Framingham. The Middlesex district attorney’s office said on Thursday evening that Hayes was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury.

He was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

According to NBC News, when Ryan was asked at the news conference whether the person shot was anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian, Ryan said that it was “too soon to get into that”.

In a video of the incident posted online, the individual across the street appears to be accusing the Israeli demonstrators of “defending genocide”, with the pro-Israeli demonstrators responding and calling him “so stupid”.

After exchanging words and arguing from across the street, the man is then seen running towards the demonstrators and then tackling and jumping on one of the pro-Israel protesters.

The video shows him and the man he jumped on, who appears to be Hayes, rolling around on the ground, and at one point two other men get involved and begin stepping on and kicking the man who ran across the street.

The pro-Israel demonstrator in the scuffle then appears to pull his gun, which fires and the man is shot in the stomach. Shortly after, the demonstrator is seen trying to help the man he just shot and calls for 911 to be summoned.

A witness of the incident told NBC Boston that it was “daunting” to see what happened and that they hoped everyone was OK.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston released a statement about the incident.

“While the details of what happened are still being investigated, there should be no question that violence of any kind in our democratic society is abhorrent,” the statement reads. “People’s right to gather in civil, non-violent public demonstrations must be sacrosanct.”

The statement urged patience as the full investigation unfolds, and encouraged Newton’s mayor, Ruthanne Fuller, and district attorney Ryan to continue to “fully communicate with the public and the community regarding the investigation and the rationale for those charges filed and for any additional charges that may be filed”.

The group added that “regardless of motive or his role in the initiation of the violence, we pray for the full recovery of the individual who was injured last night”.

The Newton acting police chief, George McMains, said that police would provide extra patrols at “houses of worship” over the next several days, according to the Associated Press.

Mayor Fuller also reportedly called the shooting a “frightening incident” and said that the investigation was ongoing.

Congressman Jacob Auchincloss, who represents Massachusetts’s fourth congressional district, said in a post on X on Thursday that “violence in political discourse is never acceptable”, thanked the authorities for the “rapid response’” and said that he is looking forward to “a thorough investigation of this incident”.