Man with animus against Jewish community arrested in Los Angeles shootings outside synagogues, sources say

The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested a suspect in the shootings of two men outside synagogues in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of L.A. over the last two days.

The man has a history of animus toward the Jewish community, law enforcement sources told The Times.

In a statement late Thursday, the LAPD said that “the facts of the case led to the crime being investigated as a hate crime.”

The first shooting occurred around 10 a.m. Wednesday near the intersection of Shenandoah and Cashio streets, when a man in his 40s was shot in the back while walking to his vehicle, authorities said. The second was around 8:30 a.m. Thursday near Pickford and South Bedford streets — about two blocks away — when a man walking home was shot in the arm. Both victims survived the attacks.

Suspected shooter in attacks on Jewish men was on FBI’s radar, LAPD chief says​

In the year before the shootings, Jaime Tran had been charged with carrying a loaded firearm and was investigated after threatening and racist messages were sent to former dental school classmates, according to court records and interviews.

Moore said that Tran, 28, had been the “subject of mental health evaluations and was and has been suffering from mental illness through the years.”

“How he came into the possession of that rifle as well as the handgun, given his mental health condition, is the subject of our continued investigation,” Moore said.

Investigators believe the weapons were acquired outside of California, the chief said. Tran told investigators that he got the guns in Arizona.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Riverside resident to 35 years in prison for shooting and wounding two Jewish men as they left synagogues in Pico-Robertson last year.