Police in Los Angeles have arrested a man who they think shot two Jewish people this week. Officials said Thursday that they are looking into the attacks as possible hate crimes.
The victims were shot on Wednesday and Thursday, about three blocks apart, in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood in the western part of the city. The Los Angeles Police Department said in a release that a “extensive” search has been started for the suspect. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that both of the men who were killed were Jewish. Officials haven’t said who the victims or suspects are in public.
In a statement, Mayor Karen Bass said, “These attacks against members of our Jewish community in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood are absolutely unacceptable,” At a time when anti-Semitism is getting worse, it’s understandable that these acts have put people on edge. I was just a few blocks away from where these things happened on the first night of Hanukkah last December.
Anti-Semitic violence is on the rise across the country, including in the two shootings. The Anti-Defamation League says that the number of antisemitic attacks in the US hit an all-time high in 2021, which was 34% more than in 2020.
Police said they found the suspect in Riverside County, which is about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles. They said that detectives found a rifle and a handgun, among other things.
CNN was the first news organization to report that the suspect had been arrested, and the news of the arrest confirmed what CNN had already said.
Earlier, the police said they were looking for an Asian man with a mustache and goatee who might be driving a white compact car. A law enforcement source told CNN that the suspect was found and arrested with the help of a license plate that was taken near the scene of one of the shootings.
“The facts of the case led to this crime being investigated as a hate crime,” Los Angeles police said. Bass said in her statement that the attacks are also being looked into by the FBI as possible hate crimes.
A source familiar with the investigation told CNN that federal agents who look into domestic terrorism and hate crimes are looking into the suspect’s past to see if he has broken any federal laws. A police spokesperson told CNN that the first victim was walking to their car around 10 a.m. Wednesday when a man drove by and shot him twice before leaving the scene.
The next day, around 8:30 a.m., the second victim was walking to his nearby home when a man in a car pulled up, shot at him, and then drove away, a spokesperson said. A spokesperson said that both of the victims were taken to nearby hospitals and were in stable condition.
Laura Fennell, who is in charge of communications for the Anti-Defamation League West, said that the people were shot as they walked home from places of worship. He was shot. Thursday is a member of the Beit El synagogue, which is about two blocks away from where police say he was shot, CNN was told. They didn’t say who the victim was, but they did say that his injuries were not serious.
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“The victim that was shot today is a pillar of our community here at Beit El. He has been a dear member for many years,” Beit El said in an email Thursday. They added, “The victim had just concluded morning prayer services, walked to his car donned in his kippah, and was shot three times at point-blank range.”
