Feb 13, 2007 7:50 pm US/Pacific
Suspect Identified In Elie Wiesel S.F. Attack
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
San Francisco police have "a suspect in mind" in the attack in a city hotel Thursday on Nobel Peace Prize laureate and author Elie Wiesel, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
The suspect has been located on the East Coast and is described as a white man in his 20s, Sgt. Neville Gittens said.
No arrests have been made, he said.
Wiesel, who survived Nazi concentration camps in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was attacked by a man who had joined him in an elevator at the Argent Hotel around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, according to Gittens.
When the man asked the celebrated author for an interview, Wiesel agreed and suggested they go to the hotel lobby, but the man said he wanted to instead invite Wiesel to his hotel room, Gittens said.
When Wiesel declined, the man grabbed him while they were on the sixth floor and tried to force Wiesel into his room. When Wiesel began screaming, the suspect ran away, Gittens said.
Throughout his life Wiesel has worked on human rights issues, including the persecution of Jews.
Last week on a Web site that declares itself dedicated to opposing Zionism, a man identifying himself as "Eric Hunt" claimed responsibility for the assault.
Wiesel lives in Connecticut and was in San Francisco to speak at the RockRose Institute World Forum meeting, held Feb. 1-3.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
