Synagogue swastika vandal suspect goes haywire during court arraignment

Man charged with swastika vandalism on synagogue goes haywire during arraignment

Justin Gorevitz did the Nazi salute, flipping the finger and shouting — but you couldn’t hear him, because the camera was muted. 

FOX 2 - A homeless man charged with a hate crime had a complete meltdown in court Friday.

The backstory:

His name is Justin Gorevitz. He was arrested this week for allegedly drawing a swastika on the exterior of Shalom Beth Synagogue.

In court today during his arraignment, he was in a jail cell and he completely lost it.

Gorevitz did the Nazi salute, flipping the finger and shouting — but you couldn’t hear him, because the camera was muted.

This went on for the whole arraignment, and the judge just kept going with the proceeding.

Justin Gorevitz

At one point Gorevitz just spit at the camera.

Charged with a hate crime and malicious destruction of personal property — the judge set his bond at $150,000 cash surety.

On April 19, the defendant is alleged to have drawn antisemitic slurs and Nazi iconography on the exterior of the Oak Park synagogue. The defendant was recognized by law enforcement from video capturing the incident.

"Attacks on Jewish houses of worship threaten the safety of congregants and undermine one of our nation’s most fundamental values: freedom of religion," said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. "Antisemitism and religious intolerance of any kind have no place in our communities."

Listen to what was said when the topic of a mental evaluation came up.

"I just think there (should) be a competency eval in this case," said the judge.

"Yeah I would ask for one, it’s clear that there’s a need for one as his arrangement," his defense attorney said. "As a arraignment attorney I normally wouldn’t do it, but it is very clear to anybody that he needs a competency evaluation."

His bond was set at $50,000.

Gorevitz is scheduled to be back in court on May 5th.

Justin Gorevitz