Almost three weeks ago now, Samantha Woll, the 40-year-old president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was found dead outside her home after a fatal stabbing. A suspect was arrested earlier this week, but we don't know that person's name. The charges aren't known, either.
As CNN reported on Wednesday:
A suspect has been taken into custody in last month’s killing of Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll, Detroit Police said Wednesday.
In a statement on X, Police Chief James E. White said details of the investigation will remain confidential at this time.
“While this is an encouraging development in our desire to bring closure for Ms. Woll’s family, it does not represent the conclusion of our work in this case,” the statement reads.
Investigators are treating her death as arising from a domestic dispute and not extremism, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.
Still, Woll’s killing has rattled Jewish community members still grappling with Hamas’ deadly October 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing conflict. The war has contributed to a rise in antisemitic incidents in the United States this past month after those incidents already reached new heights last year.
Police did not identify the suspect in Woll’s killing. It’s unclear what charges the suspect may be facing.
People were quick to bring up their suspicions over X about the suspect's identity not being known.
Police did not release the suspect’s name. Why. pic.twitter.com/yOeSmMASSM
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) November 8, 2023
Because we only ever have a name when the suspect is white and the victim is anything but white.
— Kat Kanada (@KatKanada_TM) November 8, 2023
The rest of the suspects get protection from the media.
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I imagine that if this was a white supremacist they would have released his info already.
— Skyler Lencz (@Lencz01) November 8, 2023
As one user, Fusilli Spock, pointed out, the situation and reaction was far different when a 6-year-old Muslim boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was fatally stabbed in Illinois. That case is being treated as a hate crime.
When a 6 year old Muslim boy was stabbed to death, we knew the suspects' name, voting history, viewing habits, and his picture was on every news site within hours. https://t.co/mFdW2wKNdb
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) November 8, 2023
Given the rise against anti-semitism following the October 7 terrorist attack that Hamas perpetrated against Israel, people were quick to raise the possibility of a hate crime. However, that doesn't look to be the case either. The reason being? Her Israeli flag was left untouched.
"Despite her prominent position in the Jewish community, no evidence had surfaced suggesting the killing was motivated by antisemitism, [Detroit Police Chief] White has said," the CNN report mentioned. "A large Israeli flag in Woll’s apartment was left untouched, one law enforcement source told CNN."
Woll worked on interfaith relations, and was known for being a founder of the Muslim-Jewish Forum of Detroit. In the days that followed Woll's death, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) came under heavy criticism for barely mentioning her death, which she did in a post from her personal Facebook page, though not over other social media profiles.
The synagogue is in Michigan's 13th Congressional District, not far from Rep. Rashida Tlaib's (D-MI) 12th Congressional District, who represented the 13th until the maps were redrawn due to redistricting.
Tlaib has not posted to social media about a suspect being arrested, though she has continued to post her demands for a ceasefire. She was censured earlier this week in a bipartisan vote from the House for her anti-semitic remarks and spreading falsehoods about Israel. Tlaib had also been featured in and then later shared an ad to her own personal X account that featured pro-Hamas demonstrators in Michigan chanting "from the river to the sea," a phrase calling for the genocide of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Tlaib even later tried to justify the phrase.
From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) November 3, 2023
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