Sept. 30 (UPI) — A California man with a history of anti-Semitic hate was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Monday for shooting two Jewish men at Los Angeles-area synagogues within a 24-hour period last year, federal prosecutors said.
Jaime Tran, 30, was sentenced after pleading guilty in early June to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two additional firearm charges related to a crime of violence.
“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 said in a statement.
“No Jewish person in America should have to fear that any sign of their identity will make them the victim of a hate crime.”
Tran’s charges and subsequent sentencing stem from two shootings targeting Jewish men leaving synagogues in mid-February 2023.
Authorities said the first shooting occurred Feb. 15 at about 9:55 a.m. in the 1400 block of Shenandoah Street, with the second shooting occurring at around 8:30 a.m. the next day in the nearby 1600 block of S. Bedford Street.
Both victims, who survived the shooting, had been leaving places of worship and wearing yarmulkes when targeted.
“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 said.
“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.”
Federal prosecutors said the shootings followed years of Tran espousing hate against Jewish people.
According to the Justice Department, Tran left graduate school in 2018 after making anti-Semitic comments about other students.
Between August and December 2022, his hateful statements escalated, and he sent former Jewish classmates threats to kill them, while describing himself as a “ticking time bomb,” the Justice Department said.
He also sent former classmates a flyer blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on Jews.
Federal prosecutors said mental health holds had prevented him from buying a gun, but he had paid a third party about $1,500 a month before the shootings to purchase the firearms for him. The unidentified third party previously pleaded guilty to selling the weapons to Tran that were used in the shooting.
Tran was arrested on Feb. 17, 2023, a day after his second victim was shot. Little was mentioned at that time about the arrest, other than that a rifle and a handgun were recovered from the Riverside County scene.
Federal prosecutors have since said that Tran was arrested after a witness reported a person firing a weapon behind a motel. When detained, Tran told law enforcement that he had been “practicing.”
In court documents, the government argued that if Tran had not been apprehended “his campaign of terror would likely have continued.
“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,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi.
The shooting occurred amid a spike in anti-Semitic incidents occurring throughout the United States and Los Angeles.
According to a report from the Anti-Defamation League in April, the Los Angeles Jewish community experienced 503 recorded incidents of hate in 2023, up 112% from a year prior.
The Jewish Federation Los Angeles issued a statement of appreciation Monday for the sentence that will see Tran spend the next three decades behind bars.
“We hope today’s decision helps to bring closure to the victims and their families and makes our Jewish community feel protected,” it said.
