ALBANY, N.Y. — A man who fired a shotgun outside an upstate New York synagogue with dozens of children inside shortly after the start of the Israel-Hamas war was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 10 years in prison.
Mufid Alkhader, 29, was arrested in December 2023 after firing two shots in the air and shouting “Free Palestine!” outside Temple Israel of Albany. No one was injured, but the incident terrified many of the 61 children attending preschool and the adult staffers who had to shelter in place.
“My daughter was in Hebrew class with her teacher, whose own child was on the other side of the building,” Rachel Mandel told the court. “Her amazing teacher held, hid and comforted my child. She prepared herself and the children in her care to die as victims of hate.”
The shots were fired hours before the first night of Hanukkah and two months after the surprise incursion by Hamas triggered the war. Federal prosecutors say Alkhader, whose gun jammed after the second shot, complained about events in the Middle East after his arrest.
Under a deal with prosecutors, Alkhader in February pleaded guilty to obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force, brandishing a firearm during the commission of that offense and conspiring to purchase a firearm unlawfully.
Alkhader, wearing an orange jail shirt, told the court Tuesday he felt terrible about what he did and for scaring people.
“I know I was not in my right mind,” Alkhader said, asking for forgiveness.
Alkhader’s public defender had argued for a more lenient sentence, citing his client’s severe mental illness.
But Judge Anne Nardacci sided with prosecutors, who said Alkhader should face 10 years in prison after traumatizing the children and adults in the synagogue.
Prosecutor Richard Belliss said Alkhader wanted to scare the people in the building, “and scare them he did.”
Alkhader was born in a Palestinian refugee community near Baghdad and his family came to the U.S. as refugees in 2012, when he was 16. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen two years later and lived in nearby Schenectady at the time of the shooting.
Another man was sentenced last fall to 14 months in prison for making a “straw” purchase of the shotgun for Alkhader.