Mufid Alkhader will spend the next ten years behind bars after being sentenced Tuesday for a shotgun attack that sent Temple Israel congregants fleeing in terror over Hanukkah.
The afternoon of December 7, 2023, started like any other at Temple Israel in Albany—until Alkhader stepped out of an Uber carrying a Kel-Tec shotgun. With 61 children attending preschool inside, the 29-year-old Schenectady man walked to the synagogue’s front steps and fired twice into the air, shouting “Free Palestine!”
His attempt at a third shot failed when the weapon jammed, prompting him to tear at an Israeli flag before fleeing the scene. Police arrested him outside a nearby hospital while the synagogue’s daycare remained locked down for over an hour.
The attack, coming just hours before the first night of Chanukah, forced cancellation of that evening’s concert and candle lighting ceremony. Thankfully no one was hurt in the incident, but many congregants have since remained too afraid to return to worship.
Federal investigators later uncovered the conspiracy behind the weapon itself. In November 2023, Andrew Miller had made what prosecutors call a “straw purchase,” lying to a firearms dealer by claiming the shotgun was for himself rather than Alkhader, who couldn’t legally buy guns. Miller received 14 months in prison for his role.
Alkhader expressed remorse in court, telling U.S. District Judge Anne Nardacci that he had been hearing voices and using drugs at the time of the attack.
“I apologize. I’m sorry,” he said. “I ask God for forgiveness. I ask the synagogue for forgiveness.”
The sentence drew praise from federal prosecutors who have made combating antisemitic violence a priority. Acting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III called the shooting “emblematic of the anti-Semitic violence, rhetoric and practices that have swept this country over the last few years.”
Judge Nardacci also imposed five years of supervised release following Alkhader’s prison term.
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