{"id":124507,"date":"2026-02-05T23:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124507\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T23:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:35:08","slug":"authorities-give-details-of-alleged-nyc-anti-muslim-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124507\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities give details of alleged NYC anti-Muslim attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Prosecutors detailed the string of crimes authorities allege was committed by a Staten Island woman \u2014 a crime spree which included punching a 12-year-old girl and telling a woman in a hijab to \u201cget out of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan Horne, 34, a resident of Crystal Avenue in Willowbrook, was arrested on Wednesday<\/a>, according to police and public records.<\/p>\n

Horne now faces a total of 21 charges, including accusations of assault in the third degree (as a hate crime), aggravated harassment, menacing, and endangering the welfare of a child, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

As alleged by authorities, Horne committed her first offenses in front of 8902 5th Avenue in Brooklyn around 2:20 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, a detective was informed by the victim in this initial episode that Horne allegedly walked up to the hijab-wearing victim and repeatedly kicked her in the body and punched that same victim about the face. Horne then told the victim, in sum and substance, to \u201cget out of this country,\u201d as alleged by authorities.<\/p>\n

The alleged attack resulted in redness about the face and body, substantial pain, and fear in the victim.<\/p>\n

Just a few minutes later, around 2:25 p.m., Horne is accused of attacking a 12-year-old at the intersection of Gelston Avenue and 92nd Street in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Authorities accuse Horne of approaching a hijab-wearing 12-year-old and punching her in the face.<\/p>\n

The alleged attack on the child caused the victim to suffer redness about the face, substantial pain and fear.<\/p>\n

The third incident alleged by authorities took place around 2:36 p.m. in the vicinity of 92nd Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

At this location, Horne approached a hijab-wearing individual boarding a bus, pushed that victim and said, in sum and substance, \u201cI go first,\u201d as alleged in court documents.<\/p>\n

These alleged actions caused the victim to become alarmed and annoyed, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Horne is out on supervised release, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

As previously reported, all three victims declined medical treatment. <\/p>\n

The victims and the defendant were strangers, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.<\/p>\n

Following the alleged attacks, Mayor Zohran Mamdani took to X and posted a statement<\/a> Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am outraged by the despicable, cowardly attacks against Muslim New Yorkers in Bay Ridge last week\u2014one of which was on a 12-year-old girl,” the post read. \u201cThis violence is unacceptable, and we know that all too often visibly Muslim, hijab-wearing women and girls bear the brunt of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMuslim New Yorkers deserve to live with safety and dignity, and to be able to walk our streets free from harassment, threats, or harm,\u201d he added. \u201cIslamophobia has no place in our city, and violence or intimidation against Muslim New Yorkers is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

An attorney for Horne was unable to return a request for comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Prosecutors detailed the string of crimes authorities allege was committed by a Staten Island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-124507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}