20 | DECEMBER 8 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

no concealed permit license 
and Chokr, for undisclosed 
reasons, cannot obtain a 
firearm for purchase. In a 
blatant move to show how 
“his rights were taken away,” 
Chokr, in an Instagram post 
he filmed later that day, 
seemed to be leaving a gun 
shop in Dearborn, saying that 
he had been declined from 
purchasing a gun. 
The officer added that 
another image from Chokr’s 
Instagram account of a 
gun and a torn window 
screen, was confirmed to 
be an air gun found at the 
man’s Dearborn residence. 
Law enforcement found no 
weapons at the residence. 
McDonald also released a 
statement expressing alarm of 
the content on Chokr’s social 
media posts.
“When I saw video of this 
man spewing hate at families 
and children outside Temple 
Beth El, I was horrified,” she 
stated. “I can only imagine the 
fear and anxiety felt by those 
children and their parents. 
It has affected our entire 
community. This highlights 
the need for the important 
security work being done by 
the Jewish Federation and, 
unfortunately, the need for all 
of us to remain vigilant.” 

COMMUNITY MEMBERS 
RESPOND
Soon after the incident, 
attorney Neil Rockind, whose 
children attended preschool 
at TBE, extended his services 
on a pro bono basis to families 
affected by the event should 
they need legal assistance 
and support to come forward 
and offer their accounts to 
investigative officials. Rockind 
said he was disturbed that 
Chokr knew the precise time 

to visit the parking lot when 
children were getting dropped 
off and exactly where to go, 
considering the entrance is not 
on Telegraph but tucked into 
14 Mile Road. 
“This man decided to travel 
out of his way to Bloomfield 
Township, drive into a parking 
lot that is clearly marked as 
a temple and navigate that 
very large parking lot,” said 
Rockind of Bloomfield Hills. 
“It is not like this is a temple 
in an urban setting where 
there are people you can 
randomly ask walking up and 
down a sidewalk how they 
feel about Israel. I doubt that 
that was the conversation, 
and I have reason to believe 
that that was not the intent 
of the conversation. This 
man was not looking for a 
polite exchange on different 
opinions about Israel. The 
Jewish community has had our 
claims of discrimination and 
prejudice treated differently. 
That’s not going to happen 
anymore.” 
Taryn Leib, who has 
children enrolled in the 
preschool and was an 

eyewitness to the incident, said 
even though the man is now in 
police custody, she criticized 
how he was initially handled 
by Bloomfield Township 
Police. She claimed her 
account of the incident was 
dismissed by the department. 
“The surfacing of the 
Instagram videos that revealed 
the man’s identity and the 
actions of the Bloomfield 
Police Department members 
has made some people wary 
of returning to school,” said 
Leib, of West Bloomfield. “
As 
parents, we are thankful for 
our security staff, who put 
themselves in harm’s way. 
Many could hear the man 
calling our security guard a 
“Jew-loving [n-word]” loudly 
and repeatedly. The actions of 
the officers who laughed with 
the man and fist-bumped him 
after he informed them he was 
going to another synagogue do 
not give us the confidence in 
the police department’s ability 
to keep our families safe.” 
Noting the man’s many 
social media followers, Leib 
also said she was concerned 
about the amount of support 

his hatred received and 
wondered how competent 
law officials will be when the 
next threat arises. 
However, 
Carolyn 
Normandin, 
regional director, 
Detroit/Michigan 
Office of the 
Anti-Defamation 
League, said she 
was reassured 
all the working parts of a 
security response protocol 
functioned as they should 
have. 
She noted the quick decisive 
action and coordination 
taken by the synagogue’s 
security personnel and law 
enforcement, who quickly 
stopped and questioned him. 
Normandin was troubled by 
his use of social media as he 
filmed people in the parking 
lot as he tried to get a rise out 
of them by questioning them 
on their views on Israel and 
filmed himself ranting against 
Jews and filming his traffic 
stop. 
She said it is tempting for 
people to jump to conclusions 
when they think not enough 
is being done by law and 
investigative officials. She said 
law and security officials were 
working behind the scenes 
from the moment the incident 
was reported. 
“Law enforcement was 
working behind the scenes 
all day on Friday,” explained 
Normandin. “There are many 
times when people assume 
that nothing is being done 
because they have not yet 
heard any developments. 
Law enforcement doesn’t 
immediately give out any 
details of because they 
don’t want to hamper the 
investigation.” 

Carolyn 
Normandin

continued from page 19

Calling himself a “freedom fighter,” the suspect videotaped his traffic stop.

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