(Jewish Group) Mass. man charged w/ attempt to fire bomb a Jewish-sponsored assisted living facility
A Massachusetts man was arrested and charged with attempted arson at a Jewish-sponsored assisted living facility.
John Rathburn, 36, was charged on Wednesday in a criminal complaint in federal court in Springfield, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
The facility, Ruth’s House, located in Longmeadow, a suburb of Springfield in Western Massachusetts, is situated within one square mile of several other Jewish facilities, including three synagogues, a Jewish private school, and a Jewish Community Center. The facility is owned by JGS Lifecare, which has 21 residents so far die of the coronavirus.
The homemade bomb, discovered on April 2, was made of a five-gallon plastic gas canister filled with flammable liquid, with burnt paper later identified as a Christian religious pamphlet placed in the nozzle of the canister, according to the complaint. Part of the pamphlet was charred after being lit on fire in an attempt to ignite the gas.
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Emphasis added by me.
