For allegedly pursuing and killing two Jewish individuals as they left religious services outside of two Los Angeles synagogues over the course of two days, the Justice Department charged Jaime Tran with two counts of hate crimes Friday.
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Who is Jaime Tran?
Jaime Tran, a former resident of Riverside who was born in 1994, is charged with shooting two Jewish men as they left two Los Angeles synagogues after attending religious services.
Tran chose the two victims because he knew they were Jews or thought they were Jews. The lawsuit alleges that Tran attempted to kill the two victims, therefore the maximum statutory punishment for each of the two hate crimes is life in prison without the possibility of parole. After being detained on Thursday night and being charged this morning, Tran made his first court appearance this afternoon.
The two hate-motivated acts this week are allegedly the work of Tran, according to the lawsuit. Both shootings happened in Los Angeles’ Pico-Robertson neighborhood.
The first incident allegedly occurred on Wednesday at around 9:45 a.m. Tran is accused of shooting a victim at close range as the victim was exiting synagogue services. Despite surviving the incident, this victim sustained a lower back gunshot wound.
After leaving religious services at a separate synagogue in the same neighborhood, Tran allegedly shot a second victim at close range in the second incident, which happened on Thursday at around 8 a.m. Despite having an upper arm gunshot wound, the second victim lived.
The victims were dressed in garb that clearly identified them as Jews, such as black coats and head coverings, and both shootings took place in a Los Angeles neighborhood that is largely Jewish.
The information revealed during the investigation suggests that Tran found the Jewish area after looking for a kosher market in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood on a popular business-review app. Tran allegedly drove to the scene of the first shooting after finding the market. The next day, when the second shooting took place, Tran allegedly went back to the scene, according to the complaint.
Detectives moved swiftly to identify Tran’s car, gather witness testimony, and gather Tran’s background data, which is detailed in the criminal complaint.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI, and Assistant Director in Charge Donald Alway of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office.
The situation is being looked into by both the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. Significant help was given by the police departments of Fountain Valley, Cathedral City, and Riverside County.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathrynne Seiden, Maria Jhai, and Frances Lewis of the Central District of California’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
