West LA shooter, targeting Jewish men, is charged with two hate crime counts
Federal and local law enforcement officials joined city and faith leaders Friday to announce federal criminal charges filed against the suspect who shot two Jewish men in separate West Los Angeles incidents this week.
The men were shot within two days of each other, just blocks apart, and both men had just left synagogues in the Pico Robertson district.
Martin Estrada with the U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday that prosecutors in his office filed federal hate crime charges against Jamie Tran, 28, the man who allegedly shot at the two Jewish men. He has been charged with two hate crime counts.
He was arrested in July 2022 for possessing a firearm on campus at CSU Long Beach.
"The complaint alleges that Tran, motivated by hate, targeted two victims because they were Jewish or he believed them to be Jewish. The complaint contains allegations that Tran attempted to murder the two victims. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment," said Estrada.
Tran made his initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court Friday afternoon and pleaded not guilty. He is expect back in court on Feb. 28.
Thursday around 8:30 a.m., a man was shot in his arm by a drive-by-shooter near the corner of Bedford and Pickford Street in the Pico-Union area.
On Wednesday, one day before, another shooting happened nearby on the 1400 block of South Shenandoah Street. Around 10 a.m., a 47-year-old man was shot in the back as he was walking up to his car.
Thursday night police announced they arrested the suspected gunman in Riverside County. "We are incredibly grateful for law enforcement's diligence in apprehending the suspect," the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles said in a statement.
In a Mirandized, recorded interview, Tran acknowledged having intentionally shot the two victims, according to the complaint.
Tran allegedly told agents that he searched for a "kosher" market on the social medial 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 complaint.
At Friday's news conference, LAPD Deputy Chief David Kowalski said, "We value our federal partnerships here at the LAPD and our work together has disrupted and prevented these type of terrible incidents from occurring in our city. And I would like to emphasize that although these these incidents have stopped and we have a suspect in custody, we will continue our high visibility extra patrols in all of our communities in Los Angeles throughout the weekend to ensure that our community and our neighborhoods and all of our citizens citizens feel safe."
Mayor Karen Bass decried anti-Semitism and hate in all forms. "Our Jewish community was terrorized and that terror was felt all across Los Angeles. One shooting and then the second, and perhaps even scarier, not knowing what would happen next. But thanks to the officers and investigators represented by the agencies gathered here today -- today, we can rest hopefully a little bit easier. Still, anti-Semitism and terror are tragically on the rise across our city and across our nation. My administration is resolute against hate, and we have made it a chief component of our public safety agenda," said Bass.
According to the complaint, Tran, a former dental student, has a history of harassing people he suspected of being Jewish.
In December 2022, Tran allegedly emailed dozens of his former classmates, blaming Jewish people for inconveniences and lost revenue from the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Between August and November of 2022, Tran allegedly repeatedly texted a former classmate antisemitic and threatening messages, the complaint stated.
