Suspect in Los Angeles shooting of two Jewish men agrees to plead guilty to hate crimes

A 29-year-old man who was accused of shooting two Jewish men in Los Angeles last year has agreed to plead guilty to hate crime and firearm charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

Jaime Tran, formerly of Riverside, California, is expected to plead guilty to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a news release. Once Tran pleads guilty, he faces a sentence of between 35 to 40 years in prison, according to a plea agreement.

Tran had researched locations with kosher markets on the internet and planned to shoot someone near a market because "he believed there would be Jewish people in the area," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. On Feb. 15, 2023, Tran drove to the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles and shot a man who was wearing a yarmulke as he was leaving a synagogue, according to Tran's plea agreement.

Tran intended to kill the victim and shot him in the back before fleeing the scene in his vehicle, the plea agreement says. He then returned to the Pico-Robertson area the next day and shot another Jewish man, who was also wearing a yarmulke and leaving a synagogue.

Authorities said both victims survived the attacks and police arrested Tran on Feb. 17, 2023. He has remained in custody since then, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"(Tran) sought to murder two men simply because they were Jewish,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. "Rather than allow these horrific crimes to divide us, however, our community came together and swiftly brought the perpetrator to justice. Hate and intolerance have no place in America. We will remain firm in our approach of using all the tools at our disposal to aggressively prosecute acts of hate."

Antisemitic incidents in the United States have skyrocketed in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The Jewish civil rights group said in its annual audit that 2023 had the highest number of antisemitic incidents against Jewish Americans ever recorded by the organization since it began tracking incidents in 1979.

4 takeaways:Lawmakers grill K-12 school administrators in heated hearing on antisemitic incidents

Suspect had a history of making antisemitic threats

Tran developed antisemitic beliefs and made violent threats toward Jewish people going back to 2018, according to his plea agreement. In 2018, he left dental school after making hate-filled statements about other students who he believed to be Jewish.

His antisemitic statements then escalated from August to December 2022, when he used violent language against a former classmate, the plea agreement says. He repeatedly called and sent messages that included threats to kill Jewish people to his former classmate.

Tran also emailed former classmates a flyer and excerpts from a website containing antisemitic propaganda in November and December 2022, according to the plea agreement.

As of last year, Tran was prohibited from purchasing firearms due to previous mental health hold, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. But in January 2023, he asked a third party to buy two firearms for him and paid about $1,500 in cash to the third party.

Surge in antisemitic incidents across the country

According to the ADL's 2023 audit, the organization recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States last year. That number represents a 140% increase from the 3,698 incidents recorded in 2022. 

"This represents a remarkable reversal from the early 2010s, when antisemitic incidents were at some of the lowest levels in the history of the (audit)," the ADL said.

Incidents had increased across all major categories in the ADL's audit, including 161 assault incidents, 2,177 vandalism incidents and 6,535 harassment incidents.

Although the spike last year was driven in part by reactions to the Israel-Hamas war, the ADL noted that there were monthly increases in antisemitic incidents prior to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ADL tracked 402 incidents in February 2023 and by September 2023, there were 513 incidents recorded.

Synagogues have also been targeted in attacks in recent years. The man who killed 11 worshippers at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, was sentenced to death in August 2023.

The congregation said earlier this year that the demolition of the synagogue was underway and the community plans to build a memorial site to honor the 11 victims.

Last December, a 13-year-old boy was charged with planning a mass shooting at the Temple Israel synagogue in Canton, just south of Akron, Ohio, the Canton Repository reported. The teen had shared his plans with an unknown person in Washington state through the Discord messaging platform.

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Rachel Barber, USA TODAY