What are the charges against Mehwish Omer and Stephanie Gonzalez? Two women arrested in NYC for attacking Jewish person

On Monday, November 27, Mehwish Omer, 26, and Stephanie Gonzalez, 25, were arrested and hit with hate crime charges by the New York City Police Department, in connection to an attack on a Jewish woman that took place, earlier this month, on November 9. The women, who were ripping down posters of missing Israeli hostages were confronted by a Jewish woman, who recorded them.

The two women assaulted the Jewish woman and ripped off the Star of David necklace from around her neck. Mehwish Omer was charged with hate crime-criminal mischief, and hate crime-assault. Stephanie Gonzalez was also charged with hate crime assault along with attempted robbery.

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Mehwish Omer and Stephanie Gonzalez assaulted a 41-year-old woman

On November 9, two women were tearing down posters of missing Israeli hostages at Riverside Drive and West 82nd Street corner at the Upper West Side of Manhatten, New York. Just before 10 pm, the women were confronted by a 41-year-old Jewish woman who took out her phone and started recording them tearing down the posters.

The Jewish woman engaged in a verbal dispute with the women. The two women, Mehwish Omer and Stephanie Gonzalez assaulted the woman and ripped off her Star of David necklace. They also knocked out her phone from her hand. The incident was recorded on the phone, which was damaged due to the knock and the victim sustained minor face and neck injuries.

The New York Police Department has put out a wanted poster for the aggressors. They were described as having black hair and being around 5 foot 6. One of them had a nose ring and both of them were sporting black clothes. Pictures of the aggressors from the altercation were posted on the official NYPD Crime Stoppers X (formerly known as Twitter) page, with a reward of $3500.

25-year-old Stephanie Gonzalez was arrested a week ago and hit with a hate crime assault charge and an attempted robbery charge. On Monday morning, her fellow aggressor 26-year-old Mehwish Omer also surrendered and was hit with hate crime-criminal mischief, and hate crime-assault charges.

Mehwish Omer appeared at the Manhattan criminal court on Monday night. In a video acquired by The New York Post, she was seen walking alongside another woman, as reporters and people recorded her. "Omer, did you commit this hate crime?" a reporter asked but she refused to comment and ignored all of her questions.

In a reply to X user, @ManhattanMingle's tweet update on the arrest of both women, another X user, @OldManLondre claimed that he gave most of the tips that got the two aggressors arrested. The user wrote that supporting organizations like Stop Antisemitism was some of the "most rewarding work" he's done. The man allegedly uses his expertise in OSINT and SOCMINT to bring down such people. He wrote:

"F**k yeah! 🔥💪 I submitted several tips to the NYPD about these two roaches several weeks ago. Now, they've been arrested and charged with a hate crime."

@OldManLondre's tweet (Image via X)

Tearing up the posters of missing Israeli hostages and getting caught in recording doing it has become extremely common recently. The aforementioned duo are two more names added to the list that contains, Brooklyn educator Olivia Lynch, NYC Public Defender Victoria Ruiz, University of Chicago professor Bentley Wall, NYU SBA president Ryna Workman, Brooklyn couple Kelly Ann and Noah Schaffer, and dentist Ahmed ElKoussa among others.