MTA police officers who busted anti-Jewish plot suspects detail the arrests

The two MTA Police officers from Long Island were on patrol at Penn Station on Friday night when an urgent alert was transmitted via the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force: Be on the lookout for an Aquebogue man in connection with social media posts threatening to shoot up a synagogue.

The alert, called a “BOLO,” short for “be on the lookout,” warned that the suspect, Christopher Brown, 21, might be traveling on the Long Island Rail Road — with a friend involved in the case.

"We were up at 34th and Seventh — 34th Street and 7th Avenue — when we saw [Brown] actually walk in with his friend. They both walked in through the entrance, we followed them down the escalator, stopped ’em and made the arrest,” said one of the officers, Ryan Fackner of North Babylon.

“They were completely compliant,” Fackner said Monday at a New York city hall event celebrating the arrests. Fellow arresting officer Conor Colasurdo, of Franklin Square, was by his side.

“They didn’t ask a single question," Fackner added in brief remarks after the ceremony. "They were actually kind of, just, they almost seemed to know it was coming,”

Mayor Eric Adams said at the ceremony that the officers thwarted an imminent attack.

When arrested, Brown had with him an 8-inch military knife and a swastika armband, according to charging documents provided by the office of Manhattan District Attornrey Alvin Bragg. A Glock 17 firearm and a 30-round magazine were recovered from the Manhattan apartment of Brown’s friend and now-co-defendant, Matthew Mahrer, 22, the documents said.

Brown tweeted that he was going to ask a priest “if I should become a husband or shoot up a synagogue and die,” according to the charging papers.

No specific synagogue has been identified, and it remained unclear whether the pair had any in mind.

According to the documents, Brown told investigators that he met Mahrer at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan on Friday, where he "wanted to get the blessing." 

The press office of the Archdiocese of New York, which operates the cathedral, did not return a comment request.

The two then drove to Pennsylvania with a friend of Mahrer’s named Jay to purchase a gun, Brown told police, adding, the documents say, that he paid $650 for the weapon after they arrived at Jay’s home in Pennsylvania but changed his mind because he worried about being caught by cops.

Mahrer bought the handgun instead and the two returned to Manhattan, Brown allegedly told the NYPD.

“I have a sick personality,” Brown said to police, according to the documents. “I was going to be a coward and blow my brains out with it. It took me three years to finally buy the gun.”

The two appeared in criminal court over the weekend and are being held in jail — Brown without bail, Mahrer on $150,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond.

Michael J. Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said at City Hall that the agency and the task force got information Friday evening about online messages posted by a person or persons  “believed to pose a physical threat to an unidentified synagogue.”

“With significant sense of urgency, members of the [Joint Terrorism Task Force] set about identifying the individual or individuals involved,” he said.

Brown was the first to be identified. Mahrer was identified next. Law enforcement relayed the information to the MTA and both men were soon apprehended.

“At the current time, we have no information to indicate there is any continued threat to the Jewish community or to any community here in New York associated with this case,” Driscoll said.

 The city would provide extra protection for the upcoming Hanukkah holiday, Adams said. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office announced Sunday that the state is increasing surveillance at Jewish centers.

With Michael O'Keeffe

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.