Federal authorities stated that a man from California who had a history of anti-Semitic hate was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Monday for shooting two Jewish men at synagogues in the Los Angeles region within a 24-hour period last year.
After entering a guilty plea to two counts of hate crimes with intent to murder and two more weapons charges connected to a violent crime in early June, Jaime Tran, 30, was given a sentence.
“Vile acts of antisemitic hatred endanger the safety of individuals and entire communities, and allowing such crimes to go unchecked endangers the foundation of our democracy itself,” Attorney General Merrick Garland stated.
“No Jewish person in America should have to fear that any sign of their identity will make them the victim of a hate crime.”
Two shootings that occurred in mid-February 2023 that targeted Jewish males as they were leaving synagogues are the reason for Tran’s charges and imprisonment.
The first incident happened on February 15 at approximately 9:55 a.m. in the 1400 block of Shenandoah Street, according to the authorities. The second gunshot happened the following day at approximately 8:30 a.m. in the adjoining 1600 block of S. Bedford Street.
When they were targeted, the two victims—who both managed to survive the shooting—were leaving houses of worship while donning yarmulkes.
“Targeting people for death based solely on their religious and ethnic background brings back memories of the darkest chapters in human history,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California stated.
“Such hate-fueled violence has no place in America. We hope the sentence imposed today sends a strong message to all in our community that we will not tolerate antisemitism and hate of any sort.”
According to federal authorities, Tran had been promoting anti-Semitic sentiment for years before the shootings.
Tran left graduate school in 2018 after allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks about fellow students, according to the Justice Department.
He communicated threats to kill his former Jewish classmates between August and December 2022, escalating his vile remarks and characterizing himself as a “ticking time bomb,” according to the Justice Department.
He also forwarded a brochure blaming Jews for the COVID-19 outbreak to his former classmates.
Prior to the shootings, he had paid a third party around $1,500 a month to buy the firearms for him, but federal prosecutors claimed that mental health orders had banned him from purchasing a gun.
The unnamed third individual had already entered a guilty plea to selling Tran the firearms used in the shooting. On February 17, 2023, Tran was taken into custody one day after shooting his second victim. Little was mentioned at that time regarding the arrest, other than that a rifle and a handgun were recovered from the Riverside County scene.
Since then, federal authorities have stated that Tran was taken into custody following a witness’s claim of gunfire behind a motel. When taken into custody, Tran admitted to police that he had been “practicing.”
The government contended in court filings that Tran “would likely have continued his campaign of terror had he not been apprehended.”
“While this sentencing cannot fully restore the sense of safety stolen from the two victims and the Jewish community, it is a decisive step towards justice and a clear message that such acts of hate and violence will not be tolerated,” Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi stated.
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According to a report from the Anti-Defamation League in April, the Los Angeles Jewish community witnessed 503 reported incidents of hatred in 2023, up 112% from a year previous.
In a statement released on Monday, the Jewish Federation Los Angeles expressed gratitude for the sentence that will see Tran serve the next thirty years in prison.
