A New York man who threatened to 'shoot up a synagogue' gets sentenced to 10 years

NEW YORK — A New York man who threatened in a social media post to “shoot up a synagogue” has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing a firearm as part of a planned terror attack.

Christopher Brown, of Aquebogue on Long Island, was arrested at Manhattan's Penn Station in November 2022 after authorities were alerted to a series of threatening Twitter posts he had made including, “Gonna ask a Priest if I should become a husband or shoot up a synagogue and die."

Police said Brown had a large military-style knife, a ski mask and a swastika arm patch when he was arrested at the train station along with another man, Matthew Mahrer.

A bag containing a Glock-style pistol with a large-capacity magazine and 17 bullets was later seized from Mahrer’s apartment building, police said.

According to the criminal complaint against him, Brown told police that he ran a white supremacist Twitter group and Mahrer was one of his followers. “I have Nazi paraphernalia at my house. I think it is really cool,” Brown told police, the complaint said.

Authorities said at the time that they were treating Brown as a serious threat in light of hate-motivated attacks like the May 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooting.

Brown, 23, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in September to criminal possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism.

“Today Christopher Brown was sentenced to a significant prison term for arming himself with an illegal firearm as part of his plan to commit an act of terror targeting Manhattan’s Jewish community,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a news release.

Bragg said his office was using “every tool possible” to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.

A message seeking comment was sent Thursday to the Legal Aid Society, which has represented Brown.

The case against Mahrer, who faces weapons charges but is not charged with terrorism, is still pending. Mahrer's attorney, Gilbert Bayonne, said only that his client has pleaded not guilty.