A former Riverside resident who shot two Jewish men after they left synagogues in the Pico-Robertson district last year less than 24 hours apart was sentenced Monday to 35 years in federal prison.
Jaime Tran, 30, pleaded guilty in June in downtown Los Angeles to all charges against him: two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“After years of spewing antisemitic vitriol, the defendant planned and carried out a two-day attack attempting to murder Jews leaving synagogue in Los Angeles,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
“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. As millions of Jewish Americans prepare to observe the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Justice Department reaffirms its commitment to aggressively confronting, disrupting and prosecuting criminal acts motivated by antisemitism, or by hatred of any kind. No Jewish person in America should have to fear that any sign of their identity will make them the victim of a hate crime.”