A Jackson Township man who lost his mother in the Sept. 11 terror attacks criticized freshman Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar while reading the names of the victims at the Ground Zero remembrance ceremony.

Nicholas Haros Jr., who lost his mother, Frances, tore into Omar’s recent "Some people did something" reference to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Our constitutional freedoms were attacked, and our nation's founding on Judeo-Christian values was attacked. That's what 'some people' did. Got that now?" he said to applause.

Haros also wore a black T-shirt that read “Some people did something?” referencing Omar’s comments.

"On that day 19 Islamic terrorists and members of al-Qaida killed over 3,000 people. Is that clear?" Haros said.

Haros defended his actions Thursday.

“As a son, it was like spitting on her grave,” he says of the congresswoman’s comments. “I lost 200 friends and colleagues in those building over the course of a 45-year career. That hurt.”

Omar, one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, has said she didn't intend to minimize what happened on Sept. 11, and accused critics of taking her words out of context.

She said at the time that American Muslims were targeted after the attacks and that they should not be lumped in with the people who committed the acts of terror.

Omar tweeted Wednesday that "September 11th was an attack on all of us."

Haros says that he worked in the South Tower with his mother at a different company. They took the bus to work together every day from Staten Island. He says that if not for a meeting in Baltimore on that day, he would have been in the World Trade Center and may not have survived the attack.

Haros says that he holds no hostility toward Omar and he appreciated her Twitter comments Wednesday.

The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.