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Arrests in Silverberg murder; bias discounted

Less than 48 hours after the murder of 18-year-old Denver yeshiva student Shmuel Silverberg last week, Denver police arrested four suspects in that shooting, part of a violent crime spree on the night of Aug. 17 that included another shooting, a robbery, a carjacking and several burglaries across the city.

Shmuel ‘Shmuli’ Silverberg

On the morning of Aug. 19, Denver SWAT teams apprehended Isaiah Freeman, 18; Seth Larhode, 21; Aden Sides, 18; and Noah Loepp-Hall, 19.

The suspects were arrested at two residences, one on South Umatilla St. in southwest Denver and the other on West Oxford in Sheridan, apparently without incident.

Two of three vehicles involved in the crime spree were recovered during the arrests last week. Denver Police reported late Sunday, Aug. 22, that the third vehicle had also been found.

A fifth suspect in the series of crimes, identified by Denver police as Samuel Fussell, 18, was taken into custody Aug. 25 in Greeley.

At a press briefing on Aug. 19, announcing the arrests and identifying the suspects, Denver Police chief Paul Pazen called the crime spree “appalling” as he offered condolences to the family of Shmuel Silverberg, a Lakewood, NJ resident who was a first-year post-high school student at Yeshiva Toras Chaim, the men’s high school and college-level yeshiva on Denver’s West Side.

Matt Clark, head of DPD’s major crimes division, indicated that the suspects may have met while serving time at the Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden, from which some of them had been released, one apparently with an ankle monitor, which was removed before the crime spree.

One of the suspects — Larhode, Clark said — had been sentenced to five years in juvenile detention for shooting a friend with a stolen gun in 2017.

At least one of the suspects — it wasn’t made clear which one — had escaped from the Lookout Mountain facility.

Charges, including first-degree murder, burglary, felony menacing, first-degree auto theft and first-degree assault, were expected to be forwarded to the Denver District Attorney this week.

Pazen emphasized shock and anger that such youthful individuals could commit such a violent string of crimes.

“What happened on Tuesday night,” he said, “is as violent as it gets.”

Pazen also expressed pride in the department’s quick action in making the arrests but added that the death of Silverberg remained a painful reality.

“We would love to celebrate,” he said, “but we can’t.”

A somewhat clearer picture of what happened at Yeshiva Toras Chaim on Aug. 17 began to emerge late last week, although some details remain murky.

According to police reports, Silverberg was shot at about 11:30 that night, after the suspects began their series of crimes earlier that evening with a car theft on West Alameda, moved on to a carjacking followed by a robbery and shooting of a pedestrian in East Denver and then headed back westward.

Shots were apparently fired at Silverberg just outside the yeshiva’s building on Stuart St., just north of West Colfax, although it remained unclear this week whether any of those initial shots struck the victim. It was also unclear whether the assailants initially fired at the victim from inside their vehicle or after having left it.

Silverberg was apparently pursued by one or more assailants as he fled into the yeshiva building, entering by a side door leading into a kitchen area, and was followed into the building where he was shot one or more times.

Although not confirmed either by police or the yeshiva, various reports on social media and from families connected to the yeshiva alleged that the victim may have pleaded for his life with his killers, and that some of Silverberg’s fellow students attempted to perform CPR on him before an ambulance arrived. The student died shortly after he was brought to an area hospital.

Additional reports suggested that one or more assailants fired multiple rounds once inside the yeshiva at the school’s principal, Rabbi Naftali Seidenfeld, all of which missed.

An email, forwarded last week to the IJN, came from the parent of a student at the yeshiva who visited the school after last week’s shooting. “I walked around the building taking note of the gunshot holes in the otzer [library] at the door coming into the dining room, and towards one of the entrances,” this person wrote.

These reports and others spread rapidly across social media last week, many of them likely sourcing an Aug. 18 online report from the New York-based Yeshiva World News, a website that covers the Orthodox yeshiva community.

Citing “highly-credible sources as well as multiple social media reports surfacing online,” the Yeshiva World News was the first media outlet to report that Silverberg had been pursued inside the building and was shot there. The website also said: “The shooters opened fire at a principal, who was able to get out of the way and was unharmed.”

The YWN report, in sensationalistic language, drew the conclusion that these reports strongly indicated that the shooting of Silverberg was an intentionally anti-Semitic act and should be treated as a hate crime.

“An Orthodox Jewish student was shot INSIDE a Jewish institution in the United States of America,” the YWN text read. “How is this not the lead story on every single major national news network? WHY ARE WE SILENT?”

Such exclamations notwithstanding, few in Denver — including the police and the Jewish community — are buying into the charge that Silverberg’s murder was a hate crime. [Editorial, page 24.]

“I do not believe there is a bias motivation,” DPD’s Clark said last week, adding that comments made to police by the suspects last week included no mention of anything about Jews.

Chief Pazen reiterated his own comments last week that if any indications of anti-Semitic motivation are found, hate crimes charges would be added to those already faced by the suspects.

“We don’t know the exact motivation beyond senseless violence,” Pazen said at the Aug. 19 press briefing.

Echoing JEWISHcolorado and Mountain States ADL — both of which issued statements last week expressing doubts about a potential anti-Semitic motive — Yeshiva Toras Chaim, in a public statement released Aug. 20, and signed by Rabbis Aaron Boruch Kagan, Naftali Seidenfeld and Ahron Yisroel Wasserman, expressed agreement with the police department’s stance on the question.

“As the Denver Police Department reported at a news conference yesterday, it appears that Shmuli [Shmuel Silverberg] was caught in a random string of horrific violence. The attack began outside the yeshiva and ended with the death of Shmuli inside the first set of doors at our kitchen entrance.

“Though vicious and tragic, it is our belief at this current time that this was not a targeted hate crime motivated by anti-Semitism. However, if evidence is discovered that it was, the Denver Police Department said it would work with the Denver District Attorney’s Office to add any appropriate charges.”

The yeshiva’s statement also referred to the social media rumor mill that swung into action following last week’s murder.

“There are many conflicting stories and rumors as to what unfolded at the yeshiva that night. Untruths are being amplified on social media and are causing unnecessary and additional pain for all those involved which adds to our pain.

“The yeshiva’s foremost priority is to protect the Silverberg family from any more pain and to get the bochurim [students] and staff the professional counseling help and support that they need.”

The statement, in addition to mentioning that it is consulting with mental health professionals to help the school “in the healing process,” said that it is working with security experts to enhance its security systems and protocols.

Security at the yeshiva had already been seriously upgraded with the construction of its new dormitory, completed in 2016.

Chris Leppek may be reached at [email protected].

Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountian Jewish News



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IJN Assistant Editor | [email protected]


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