Anti-Israel agitator charged in violent hate crime attack on two Jewish college students
Adam Erkan, 20, is facing four felony charges, including two counts of hate crime and two counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.
Prosecutors allege that Erkan attacked Max Long and Michael Kaminsky while the pair were peacefully advocating for Israel on DePaul University's campus in Chicago on Nov. 6. Authorities said at the time that they were also looking for a second suspect.
Erkan, who was not a student at the university, allegedly approached Long while wearing a face-covering and making antisemitic slurs, according to police. A second suspect then struck Long from behind and eventually turned on Kaminsky when he attempted to step in to help, police said.
The Cook County Prosecutor's Office and Chicago Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Erkan's father identified him to police after surveillance footage captured Erkan fleeing the scene in a 2011 Silver Toyota RAV-4, according to prosecutors.
Authorities were able to obtain video footage of the incident, and police are still searching for the second suspect.
Fox News Digital was unable to locate an attorney representing Erkan.
Long, an Israeli Defense Forces reservist, lost consciousness and suffered a brain injury from the attack, while Kaminsky sustained a fractured wrist and required surgery.
"It's definitely some sense of relief," Long said, adding, "I've said many times, I felt safer having the support of my team in the army around me in Gaza than I do a lot of times on my own college campus in Chicago."
Erkan was arrested outside his home earlier this week and made his first appearance in court on Thursday. A judge ordered Erkan to be held without bail as he awaits trial.
"We are extremely grateful for the work of the police who investigated this case and apprehended the suspect," DePaul University officials said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The suspect is not a member of the DePaul community. Acts of hate and violence have no place at DePaul. We condemn antisemitism in all its forms and stand in solidarity with those affected by this reprehensible act."
Earlier this month, Long and Kaminsky filed a lawsuit alongside The Lawfare Project against DePaul University, alleging that officials allowed antisemitic rhetoric to infiltrate the campus.
"We appreciate the work the Chicago Police Department did to identify and apprehend this suspect, and expect the State Attorney to vigorously prosecute this as the conspiracy and hate crime attack it was," Gerard Filitti, The Lawfare Project Senior Counsel, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"We have every confidence that the second attacker will be apprehended shortly. As the judge made clear at yesterday's hearing, the evidence shows a plan to attack Max and Michael, and its methodical implementation. It is highly significant that the defendant, Adam Erkan, was denied bail, clearly signaling that he remains a danger to the Jewish community, and setting an important precedent in the prosecution of hate crimes."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Kentucky whistleblower claims licensing center sold IDs to illegal immigrants 'under the table'
Former Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) clerk Melissa Moorman sued her old employers for allegedly firing her because she reported on co-workers selling driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. According to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Moorman discovered in 2024 that two co-workers from the Department of Vehicle Regulation were selling documents to "nonresidents" without proper immigration screenings or testing. Her lawyers argued that she knew of the crime after being invited to participate. "The employees were being paid under the table," Moorman told WDRB News on Monday. "I immediately let my supervisor know about it." She also informed WDRB News that these co-workers would sell licenses for $200 per person approximately four to five times a day, for over two years. Moorman said that every case she encountered involved an illegal immigrant. After she reported the crime, the co-workers were fired, and a federal investigation was launched into KYTC. Moorman allegedly met with federal investigators in January after learning those employees were using her credentials and log-in information without her knowledge at the time. She has said that she was instructed by her supervisor to provide the employees with this information as they waited for their own credentials when they first started. KYTC fired Moorman the day of her interview but, according to Moorman's lawyers, has kept her supervisor despite the "mismanagement, fraud, abuse of authority, and violations of law and statute in which he engaged that Moorman disclosed and reported." "I was angry, hurt and depressed," Moorman told WDRB News. "I did the right thing. I told the truth. I should not have been fired." Moorman filed the lawsuit in April, claiming that KYTC violated the Kentucky Whistleblower Act, which protects public whistleblowers who come forward with information about misconduct. She has asked for her job and benefits to be reinstated along with back pay. "It is tragic that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet chose to terminate the person that uncovered the fact that hundreds, perhaps thousands of undocumented people were provided Kentucky driver's licenses that they were not qualified to receive," Moorman's attorney Garry Adams told Fox News Digital. "The scheme that Melissa Moorman uncovered was putting all Kentuckians that operate or ride in motor vehicles in danger, and she should have been rewarded for her disclosure rather than terminated for it." He continued, "This type of behavior where local, state and even federal governments seem to favor sweeping big problems under the rug, rather than disclosing it, addressing it and fixing it has got to stop." Fox News Digital reached out to KYTC for comment. Kentucky law allows non-U.S. citizens to obtain standard driver's licenses only if they provide proof of residency and valid immigration documentation. Presenting false documents regarding immigration status could be grounds for prosecution. In a comment to Fox News Digital, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said the reports showed "troubling and unacceptable conduct," adding that they have been "aggressively investigating this potential fraud for some time now" with federal law enforcement.
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
O'Rourke, Soros-linked groups face call for DOJ probe over alleged funding of Texas Dem walkout
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants the Justice Department to investigate groups tied to Beto O'Rourke and George Soros for allegedly funding Texas Democrats' exodus from the state. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into whether O'Rourke's Powered by People political action committee (PAC) and the Soros-linked Texas Majority PAC have acted "in violation of federal public corruption and election laws" for raising funds to help Texas state Democrats leave the state during the redistricting special session. "I write today to encourage an investigation of the entities funding this charade," Cornyn wrote in a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital. "News reports make clear that PACs tied to Beto O'Rourke and megadonors such as George Soros are supporting the legislators, along with other campaign entities." The Texas Democrats fled the state in an effort to kill a special session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to redraw maps in the Lone Star State. The lawmakers fled in a bid to prevent a quorum to prevent legislation from moving forward. Cornyn previously called on FBI Director Kash Patel to help find the legislators. His latest letter comes on the heels of reports from the Texas Tribune that O'Rourke's PAC has played a major role in financially supporting the roughly 50 Democrats who departed for New York and Illinois, paying for airfare, lodging and helping with the $500-per-day fines the lawmakers face for skipping the legislative session. The Soros-aligned PAC is also reportedly working with national fundraising groups to secure additional funding for the legislators. Fox News Digital reached out to both organizations for comment. However, the Texas state Senate advanced the new maps on Tuesday night and the missing House Democrats are reportedly planning to return to the state. Now, the Texas state House must vote on the redistricting changes for them to become law. The special session is slated to end next Tuesday, though Abbott has said he would call another in the face of the Democrats' opposition tactics. Cornyn charged that if legislators took money and gifts in exchange for using their official position to prevent a quorum call, then they may have committed honest services fraud or Hobbs Act Extortion. And by crossing state lines, he noted, the lawmakers could be in violation of the federal Travel Act, "if they did so with the intent to break either federal or state laws." He said that "at a minimum, it appears likely that Texas state bribery and corruption laws may have been broken" by both the legislators who accepted benefits and the groups linked to O'Rourke and Soros "who provided these corrupt funds." And O'Rourke's group may have violated federal campaign finance laws for spending money in prohibited ways, Cornyn noted, like "expenditures being made for individuals' personal use, which would include food, lodging, and travel unrelated to electioneering activities." "I therefore request that you also work with the [Federal Election Commission] to examine both the sources of funding for the special interest groups and PACs funding the House members' dereliction of duty and how those funds have been spent to ensure compliance with all federal laws and regulations," he wrote. Cornyn's request also follows a similar demand made by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The pair is locked in an already bloody primary battle to capture the Republican nomination for Senate in the Lone Star State. Paxton on Tuesday requested that a Texas district judge jail O'Rourke over allegations that he violated a court order issued last week that prohibited fundraising meant to back the efforts by Texas Democratic lawmakers to blow up the redistricting effort. Cornyn noted that the lawmakers' flight not only blocked the redistricting effort, but also harmed legislation that would provide aid to victims of the recent devastating Texas floods. "The special session will end in a matter of days, at which point, assistance to flood victims and other needed measures will go unaddressed," Cornyn said. "The absconding House members' dereliction of duty is truly shameful."
4 hours ago
Bangladeshi officials testify against former British minister Tulip Siddiq in anti-corruption trial
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladeshi anti-corruption officials testified in court on Wednesday against former British Minister Tulip Siddiq, accused of using her familial connection to deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to obtain state-owned land plots in the South Asian country. Siddiq, who is Hasina's niece, resigned from her post as an anti-corruption minister in Prime Minister Keir Starmer 's government in January following reports that she lived in London properties linked to her aunt and was named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh. She is being tried together with her mother, Sheikh Rehana, brother, Radwan Mujib, and sister, Azmina. Siddiq has been charged with facilitating their receipt of state land in a township project near the capital, Dhaka. The four were indicted earlier and asked to appear in court, however, the prosecution said they absconded and would be tried in absentia. The trial at the Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 formally began Wednesday with testimonies by officials of the country's Anti-Corruption Commission. By Wednesday afternoon, the court had heard from two officials and a third is expected to testify later in the day, said Muhammad Tariqul Islam, a public prosecutor. Siddiq's lawyers had previously called the charges baseless and politically motivated. Separately, the anti-corruption investigation has also alleged that Siddiq's family was involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of money were said to have been embezzled. Siddiq represents the north London district of Hampstead and Highgate in Parliament, served in Britain's center-left Labor Party government as economic secretary to the Treasury — the minister responsible for tackling financial corruption. Hasina was ousted after a 15-year rule in a student-led mass uprising in August last year. She fled to India and has been in exile ever since. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as interim leader and vowed to try the former prime minister. Hundreds of protesters were killed during the uprising and Hasina now faces charges, including crimes against humanity.
