Suspect arrested for alleged arson and hate crime at Jewish Museum of Maryland

Hashemi, who was arrested by city SWAT officers “without incident,” has “a history of arson-related crimes,” according to the department, which called the incident a “hate crime.”

According to the initial incident report, Baltimore officers were investigating an arson report around 9:45 a.m. on August 8. An officer heard from a site manager who said he found “what appeared to be burnt material on the ground in front of the main entrance gate” around 6 a.m. on August 5. The latter told police he “later disposed of the burnt material.”

The museum's deputy director told the officer that she and her colleagues had “reviewed on-site video surveillance, which shows an unknown person getting out of a vehicle” and “walking toward the main entrance gate” before “placing an unknown object on the ground.”

“This unknown individual was observed handling the item, which subsequently burst into flames,” according to the incident report provided to JNS by Baltimore Police. “The individual then returned to the vehicle and fled the scene.” According to the report, a Baltimore Fire Department fire engine was dispatched to the scene at approximately 10:45 p.m. on August 4 to “extinguish a fire.”

The museum building has been closed to the public since June 12 and will remain so “until the end of 2024 for the first phase of a major project,” according to the museum's website.

“It's hard to believe that someone would just light a small fire in front of a facility that is clearly marked as Jewish and is located between two historic synagogues without anti-Semitic or anti-Israel intentions,” said Howard Libit, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, in an interview with WJZ.

Damage to the museum is reportedly over $1,000.