Albuquerque Jewish sites vandalized, suspect arrested after back-to-back attacks

Two Albuquerque Jewish institutions were forced into cleanup and damage control after a man allegedly struck their bulletproof doors minutes apart Tuesday afternoon, a sequence that has put security planning and bias-motivation at the center of the investigation.

Police said the first incident happened at Congregation Albert on Louisiana Boulevard at about 4:30 p.m. on June 3, when a man damaged a bulletproof glass door and appeared to fire some sort of weapon at the building. Leaders later said they believed the door may have been hit by something else because investigators did not find bullet evidence. About 10 minutes later, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque on Wyoming Boulevard called police to report that a man was trying to break another bulletproof glass door with a large metal object. Surveillance video allegedly captured the suspect, identified as Rex Crofton, striking the door before leaving.

By June 4, Crofton had been arrested and was facing charges that included criminal damage to property and desecration of a church. The Albuquerque Police Department said it was also working with federal authorities, and a criminal complaint cited probable cause for hate-crime charges. Both organizations initially said it was too soon to know whether the incidents were connected, but the pace of the two attacks and the complaint’s language have pushed the case well beyond routine vandalism.

Congregation Albert’s senior rabbi, Celia Surget, described the episode as baseless and upsetting, especially because it happened as staff were winding down for the day. At the JCC, board president Ron Winger said the center has security protocols in place and will not let the vandalism dictate its programs or worship activities. KOAT reported that campers were evacuated under protocol, but service was not interrupted, underscoring how those safeguards helped keep the situation from escalating further.

The attacks land against a wider backdrop of heightened concern for Jewish institutions. The Anti-Defamation League said in its May 6 audit that the United States recorded 6,274 antisemitic incidents in 2025, an average of 17 per day, making it the third-highest year on record. The ADL also said 2024 logged 9,354 incidents nationwide, the highest total in its audit. Albuquerque has faced similar threats before: in 2020, vandals damaged the New Mexico Holocaust Museum and Gellert Center for Education in downtown Albuquerque, leaving a shattered window and renewed concern about the vulnerability of local Jewish sites.