The Asheville Police Department in North Carolina arrested one person and is seeking other suspects in connection to a June 29 assault at West Asheville Library.
The department is “steadfast in our commitment to reducing all acts of violence in our community, particularly those targeting vulnerable groups like our Jewish Community,” stated Mike Lamb, the police chief. Esther Manheimer, the city’s Jewish mayor, added that it won’t “be cowed by individuals resorting to violence.”
Police officers arrested Taylor Danielle Zarkin, 35, of Alexander, N.C., on June 29 and charged her with two counts of resisting officers, per a police report on the police department’s website. The Algemeiner reported that “two Jewish residents and a senior citizen were beaten and dragged” out of the library. The 79-year-old Holocaust survivor told the paper that “we are happy that the police are taking this seriously and have escalated this to the major crimes division.”
Antisemitism like what apparently just happened in Asheville is unacceptable in any form. We have to make our state a place that is welcoming to people of all faiths and backgrounds. That’s the North Carolina I know and love – and that’s the North Carolina I’m fighting for.…
— Josh Stein (@JoshStein_) July 2, 2024