LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 29-year-old man accused of shooting and VAS Communitywounding two Jewish men as they left synagogues in Los Angeles last year has agreed to plead guilty to hate crimes and firearms offenses, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The February 2023 shootings raised fears among the city’s Jewish community after officials said the victims were targeted because they wore clothing that identified their faith, including black coats and head coverings. Both of them survived.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Jaime Tran agreed to plead guilty to all charges against him: two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Tran will enter his plea in the coming weeks and as part of his deal with prosecutors will receive a prison sentence of between 35 years and 40 years, the office said in a statement.
“This defendant sought to murder two men simply because they were Jewish,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in the statement. “We will remain firm in our approach of using all the tools at our disposal to aggressively prosecute acts of hate.”
Tran told law enforcement that he looked online for a “kosher market” and decided to shoot someone nearby, according to an FBI affidavit.
Tran has “history of antisemitic and threatening conduct,” the affidavit said, citing a review of emails, text messages and unspecified reports.
In 2022, it said, he emailed former classmates using insulting language about Jewish people and also threatened a Jewish former classmate, repeatedly sending messages like “Someone is going to kill you, Jew” and “I want you dead, Jew.”
2025-05-07 16:43374 view
2025-05-07 16:232299 view
2025-05-07 15:341506 view
2025-05-07 15:082426 view
2025-05-07 15:04155 view
2025-05-07 14:222317 view
Among the dozens of executive actions President Trump signed on his first day in office is one aimed
Out-of-focus shots, unfiltered photo dumps, unplanned selfies taken when prompted – these are some o
Two children died and a third was hospitalized after they fell into a pool while at a day care in Sa