The Jewish Community Relations Council of Chicago, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee criticized Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday for failing to “acknowledge the Jewish community” in a statement after a Muslim man allegedly shot a Jewish man walk to synagogue on Saturday in West Rogers Park, home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish populations in the city.

Three days after the shooting, in which the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he exchanged fire with police officers who responded to the initial shooting, Johnson wrote on X: “Our sincere thoughts and prayers are with the victim and those his darlings from this weekend. shooting incident that took place in Rogers Park. All Chicagoans deserve to feel safe and protected in the city. There is more work to be done and we are committed to diligently improving community safety in every neighborhood.”

The JCRC responded to Johnson in a tweet saying, “You failed to identify that the victim was a Jewish man in a densely populated Jewish neighborhood going to synagogue for Shabbat morning prayers. Why will you have to recognize the Jewish community?”

Sarah van Loon, AJC Chicago regional director, also condemned Johnson’s omission in an interview Jewish Insider. “I am deeply concerned that Mayor Johnson cannot say that the victim was visibly Jewish and attended synagogue on Shabbat,” van Loon said. “It seems like another opportunity that would have been so easy for him to acknowledge the Chicago Jewish community that has suffered so much over the past year, and again, our pain is invisible to him (even though) the Jewish community is super active in Chicago.”

David Goldenberg, ADL Midwest regional director, noted that Johnson’s statement “came more than 48 hours after the incident and only after he was criticized.”

“Mayor Johnson’s statement was hollow and it’s coming crashing down on the Jewish community,” Goldenberg told JI.

Jewish leaders in Chicago also expressed disappointment that the shooting has not yet been charged as a hate crime.

The 22-year-old suspect, Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, shouted the Arabic phrase as he fired at police officers and paramedics responding to the shooting, according to video footage obtained by a door camera. The police standoff took place after Abdallahi shot a 39-year-old man, wounding him in the shoulder. On Monday, Abdallahi was charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm at a police officer and one count of aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm. The Chicago Police Department also did not mention in its press release detailing the charges any indication of the victim’s Jewish identity, despite the fact that he was dressed as an identifiable Orthodox Jew, according to several Jewish groups.

At a Tuesday news conference organized by local Jewish groups, Goldenberg said he urged the Chicago Police Department to “conduct a thorough investigation into the motives for these heinous crimes … and that charges be added as appropriate.”

“Saturday’s crime feels like a hate crime, regardless of where the investigation is,” he said.

“I’ve been involved in literally dozens of hate crime investigations over the past few years, and I know that sometimes we have to be patient if we want charges to stick … even when our lived experiences make it seem clear and obviously,” Goldenberg. said, noting that the ADL has seen a nearly 300 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Chicago in the past year compared to the previous year.