Suspect charged with assault in vicious beating outside Brooklyn mosque

Jim Dolan Image
Thursday, July 7, 2016
2 teens viciously beaten coming out of Brooklyn mosque
Jim Dolan has more from Sunset Park.

SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A suspect has been charged with assault in an attack on two teens outside a Brooklyn mosque.

31-year-old Christopher Vallaro arrived at the 72nd Precinct Wednesday morning with his attorney to surrender and was questioned by detectives before being put through lineups.

He is charged in the beating of two 16-year-old Muslim teens outside the Madine Muslim Community Center on Third Avenue in Sunset Park.

The man is not expected to be charged with a hate crime.

The motive for the attack is believed to be that the two teens were harassing his girlfriend.

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations previously demanded that the attack be investigated as a bias crime.

The incident was caught on surveillance video, which shows the suspect repeatedly kicking and stomping on one of the teens outside the mosque.

He also chased and tackled the second teen, who was on a bike.

The assailant was reportedly heard shouting slurs at his victims, including, "You f**king terrorist," and, "You Muslims are the cause of all the problems of the world."