News / People
New Jersey Man Held in Attack on Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel
Police in New Jersey arrested a 22-year-old Sussex County man on Saturday in connection with the San Francisco attack on Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel earlier this month.
Eric Hunt is facing numerous charges including stalking, battery, false imprisonment, attempted kidnapping and elder abuse. Wiesel, 79, was the featured speaker at a peace forum at Argent Hotel on Feb. 1.
Hunt is being held without bail in New Jersey awaiting extradition to San Francisco where he is suspected of attacking Wiesel.
Wiesel was approached by a man in the hotel lobby who requested an interview. The young man convinced Wiesel to conduct the interview in a hotel room and the two men took an elevator. After reaching the sixth floor the man dragged Wiesel from the elevator at which point the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner began screaming for help.
The attacker then fled from the scene.
Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and scholar, is the author of “Night” which recounts graphic scenes of his time in a Nazi concentration camp.
