A caravan of news trucks passed through the area where the incidents occurred the morning after Los Angeles police detained a man suspected of killing two Jews outside their synagogues.
People were making their way to prayer services, grocery shopping, and picking up bagels along Pico Boulevard, which runs through the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, which is home to a sizable and diversified Jewish community.
Several said that they might not have been if the shooter responsible for the Wednesday and Thursday morning shootings hadn’t fled.
At the kosher supermarket Elat Market, Taryn, whose children attend a nearby Jewish day school, said, “There are a lot of women that stroll up and down carrying their kids to school.” “I did use my car when they hadn’t located anyone since I didn’t feel safe walking. It influences how we live.
Police in Los Angeles provided information on the identity and motives of the alleged shooter on Friday afternoon.
According to the county’s prisoner locator service, 28-year-old Jaime Tran was held in the county jail on a $2 million bond due to charges of hate crimes.
Tran had previously sent antisemitic messages to former classmates in December and cited a flier that blamed Jews for the COVID-19 pandemic, apparently of the type regularly distributed by the white supremacist Goyim Defense League, according to charges filed by the federal prosecutors.
Tran told officers that he had chosen the location of the shootings by searching for “kosher markets” on Yelp and selected the victims by their “headgear.”
United States Attorney Martin Estrada said, “During the previous two days, our community experienced two heinous crimes that we think were motivated by an antisemitic ideology that prompted him to target the Jewish community.”
“It is crucial that we celebrate our differences and work together to combat acts of hate, especially in one of the most diverse regions in the world.”
Taryn, who opted not to give her last name due to privacy concerns, recently relocated from South Africa to Los Angeles.
While she was concerned about crime in general, learning about the alleged shooter’s antisemitic animus frightened her.
She remarked, “Clearly, hearing that this individual intentionally targeted Jews is disturbing. It’s undoubtedly frightful. This is somewhat of a reality check, I suppose.
Some worshippers at the weekday morning service at Temple Beth Am, a sizable Conservative synagogue nearby, claimed to be aware that shootings had occurred. Few people were aware of the arrest.
After learning that a man had been detained in connection with the gunshots, which left two men with non-life-threatening wounds, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles issued a statement late on Thursday.
The federation added that the suspect has “a history of animus towards the Jewish community” after receiving information.
The suspect was “taken into custody without incident” in nearby Riverside County, according to the Los Angeles Police Department late Thursday, and a handgun and rifle were found there.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore expressed his gratitude for “the outstanding job of our people” on Twitter. There is much more to this incident, which we will disclose when it is correct.
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