Rabbi hung suspect’s picture on synagogue door after multiple verbal attacks in Squirrel Hill

PITTSBURGH — Police said all of the verbal attacks took place near the Sha-Ray Torah Synagogue in Squirrel Hill. The Rabbi told Channel 11 he was so worried about the situation escalating, that he hung the suspects picture on the synagogue door.

“We asked everyone to take a look at the picture, know the individual. If they see him, stay away, to not engage, call 911,” said Rabbi Daniel Wasserman.

For more than a week, Wasserman said he has dealt with verbal and physical harassment of members of the congregation. Police have charged Tyrone Correll with ethnic intimidation.

“It really came to a head a couple of days ago when an individual came in for services in the morning and was shaking like a leaf. And he said he was thrown into a car, and someone stood over him and said words I’m not going to repeat on camera,” he said.

At one point, investigators said Correll screamed he was going to kill the man and his babies, then called him a slur. On another occasion detectives said Correll assaulted an elderly man.

“They were not seriously hurt. The measure of the impropriety is not the physical injury, it’s the fact that it happened,” Wasserman said. “We are blessed to live in a community in a neighborhood in a city where most people are good, fine, decent people. But every once in a while you get somebody and you have to be vigilant because we know what people are capable of.”

Wasserman said he doesn’t want people in the synagogue to worry, just be aware.

Investigators said Correll also threatened officers when they were putting him under arrest.

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