A suburban man has been charged with the attack on two Jewish students on the DePaul University campus late last year.
On Thursday, authorities charged Adam Erkan, 20, with two counts of hate crime and two counts of aggravated violence causing serious bodily harm, both felonies. He isn’t a DePaul University student.
Erkan, from Hoffman Estates, has a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday. Police are still searching for the second suspect in the incident.
DePaul students attacked
According to an earlier FOX 32 report, the violence occurred on November 6, when Max Long and Michael Kaminsky were beaten while peacefully speaking for Israel on the DePaul campus.
Police said Erkan approached Long while wearing a black face mask and shouted antisemitic slurs before assaulting him and attacking Kaminsky, who was attempting to assist.
Long, an Israeli Defense Forces reservist, lost consciousness and had brain damage, while Kaminsky sustained a shattered wrist that required surgery. Video captured a portion of the altercation.
According to the police report, Erkan was captured on security camera departing the scene in a 2011 silver Toyota RAV-4.
According to prosecutors, his father identified him in the security video and informed police.
Erkan was arrested on Tuesday around 9:30 a.m. outside his home.
Administrators at DePaul University released a statement on the issue on Thursday, which is available below.
“We are extremely grateful for the work of the police who investigated this case and apprehended the suspect. The suspect is not a member of the DePaul community. We are also grateful to the prosecutors in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for ensuring the suspect will have to account for his actions in court. Acts of hate and violence have no place at DePaul. We condemn antisemitism in all its forms and stand in solidarity with those affected by this reprehensible act. For more on how DePaul is confronting antisemitism, please visit go.depaul.edu/stopantisemitism.”
Lawsuit Filed: Long and Kaminsky, along with The Lawfare Project, filed a lawsuit against DePaul University earlier this month.
“Since October 7th, DePaul University has allowed the violent antisemitic rhetoric permeating throughout its campus to continue to escalate and go unchecked,” Jaclyn Clark from the Lawfare Project said on April 2. “Our history has shown us that violent rhetoric against Jews leads to violent action, and we have seen this play out before our eyes on college campuses like DePaul, where Jewish students like Max and Michael are viewed as legitimate targets for physical violence.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
