BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – What should have been a routine preschool drop-off in December 2022 turned into chaos when 36-year-old Dearborn resident Hassan Chokr showed up outside Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills. Witnesses said he spewed antisemitic slurs and threats at parents and young children, creating panic in what should have been one of the safest spaces imaginable – a school entrance.

According to court documents, Chokr drove through the parking lot of the synagogue as Jewish parents walked their preschoolers into the building. He yelled antisemitic profanities, attacked their support for Israel, and threatened that they would “pay.”

From school threats to gun store fantasies.

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After being asked to leave, Chokr made his way to a Dearborn gun shop, where he attempted to purchase a small armory: a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, a 5.56 mm rifle, and a 9 mm Glock pistol. A prior felony conviction barred him from even handling the weapons, but that didn’t stop him from brandishing them and vowing to unleash “God’s wrath” to “even the score” while at the store.

Lesson learned the hard way.

On Tuesday, September 23, a federal judge sentenced Chokr to 34 months in prison. The ruling closed a case that began with preschoolers facing threats at a synagogue and ended with a convicted felon trying to arm himself, possibly to make good on his previous threat. Prosecutors said the sentence serves as a clear reminder: targeting children and families with hate-fueled threats will not go unpunished.

“The sentencing of Hassan Chokr reaffirms that reckless actions endangering children and their parents outside of a daycare, have no place in our society,” said Reuben Coleman, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. “The FBI in Michigan has zero tolerance for threats to our citizens and remains firmly committed to protecting the communities we call home.”