2 Jews shot in 2 days leaving services in same LA area

Post Reply New Topic

Police are investigating after two Jewish men were reportedly shot after leaving religious services in Los Angeles within 24 hours.

The Los Angeles Police Department told ABC News they have no indication of a hate crime at this time. Initially police did not believe the West Los Angeles shootings to be related, though now say they believe they may involve the same suspect.

The first shooting occurred shortly before 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, when a man in his 40s was shot while getting into his vehicle, police said. The suspect fired at the victim while driving by, striking him, then took off, police said.

The second shooting occurred Thursday around 8:30 a.m. a couple of blocks from the first incident, when a suspect fired upon a victim at an intersection from a vehicle, police said.

Police described the suspected shooter as an Asian man with a mustache and goatee driving a possible white compact vehicle.

The victims are in stable condition, police said.

Both incidents occurred in LA's Pico-Robertson area, which is home to many synagogues and religious centers. The victims were leaving houses of worship, according to Jeffery Abrams, regional director for Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles.

The LAPD said it is re-allocating resources "to provide a highly visible and preventative presence in the area."

"The Los Angeles Police Department is aware of the concern these crimes have raised in the surrounding community," the LAPD said in a statement Thursday evening. "We have been in close contact with religious leaders as well as individual and organizational community stakeholders."

'It’s sickening that Los Angeles is dealing with this. We want the city to take a strong stand… to guard the synagogues'

A Jewish man was shot in Los Angeles on Thursday, a day after another Jewish victim was also shot in the California city.

Thursday’s victim was attacked while leaving a synagogue. The city’s Hatzalah – a Jewish volunteer medical organization – arrived at the scene shortly after along with police and city emergency services. He was reportedly shot in his arm and was in stable condition.

The day prior, another Jewish man was shot while also leaving a Jewish place of prayer, in an area densely populated with ultra-Orthodox Jews. He was also shot in the arm and was in stable condition.

The Los Angeles Police Department described the incidents as “eerily similar," and later arrested a man with a history of prejudice toward Jews.

Citing law enforcement sources, The Los Angeles Times said the suspect had a “history of animus toward the Jewish community” and that that hatred was likely the motivation for the attacks. They said the case was being handled on both a federal and a local level, and that officials were trying to interrogate the suspect, whose name was not immediately released.

Police were scouring the areas of both shooting sites trying to obtain surveillance video, and they have not yet deemed the crimes to be antisemitic in nature. It should be noted that the scene of Wednesday’s shooting was in a neighborhood that has seen multiple instances of antisemitic violence in the past.

A 28-year-old former Riverside resident suspected of shooting two Jewish men after they left West Los Angeles synagogues less than 24 hours apart was charged Friday with two federal hate crime counts that could put him behind bars for life.

Jaime Tran, who was arrested Thursday by Cathedral City police, was charged with committing hate crime acts in connection with the shootings, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.

The complaint alleges that Tran targeted the two victims because they were Jewish or he believed them to be Jewish. Because the complaint contains allegations that Tran attempted to murder the two victims, the maximum possible penalty for each of the two hate crimes is life without parole in federal prison.

Tran appeared in Los Angeles federal court Friday afternoon and was ordered to remain jailed without bail. Magistrate Judge Margo A. Rocconi scheduled his arraignment for March 9.

The defendant was “motived by antisemitism,” Estrada said at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles. “Hate crimes have no place in our community.”

In a Mirandized, recorded interview, Tran acknowledged having intentionally shot the two victims, according to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant.

Tran allegedly told agents that he searched for a “kosher” market on the social media application Yelp. After locating a kosher market, Tran drove to the market and selected his victims because of their “head gear,” he said, according to the affidavit.

Based on the description of his vehicle, the suspect was traced to Riverside County. He was arrested Thursday evening when Cathedral City police responded to a report of a man who had fired a gun and was carrying a weapon near his car, according to the affidavit.

Detectives recovered several items of evidence — including an AK- style rifle and a .380-caliber handgun consistent with the weapon believed to have been used in the shooting, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, Tran — a former dental student — has a history of harassing people he suspected of being Jewish.

At the end of November, he allegedly emailed dozens of former classmates at the dental school, calling the COVID-19 pandemic part of a Jewish conspiracy. He included a flier in the email listing various government officials and the word “Jewish” written next to the name of every official, according to the affidavit.

About a month later, Tran allegedly again emailed former classmates, describing Jewish people as “primitive” and encouraging his classmates to blame any “inconvenience” or lost revenue from the COVID-19 lockdowns on the “Iranian Jew,” according to the document.

Between August and November, he allegedly repeatedly texted a former classmate antisemitic and threatening messages, including: “Someone is going to kill you, Jew” and “I want you dead, Jew,” the affidavit stated.