LAPD puts Jewish institutions on alert after synagogue shooting
Gunman wounds two in L.A. attack; victims hospitalized in good condition after being shot in the legs.
By Natasha Mozgovaya and The Associated Press Tags: Jewish World Israel news anti-SemitismThe Los Angeles Police Department put Jewish institutions on alert on Thursday, after a gunman shot and wounded two men in the parking garage of a San Fernando Valley synagogue earlier in the day.
Two men in their 40s were shot in the legs near the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in North Hollywood, Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore said.
The men, both members of the synagogue, had arrived in separate cars for the morning service shortly before 6:30 A.M. when the gunman approached one and, without speaking, shot him and the other man, Moore said. The men were hospitalized in good condition.
But the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles said the gunman had had an argument with the men in the parking lot before shooting them.
The Los Angeles based Jewish Journal said the two had been named as the victims as Maor Ben-Nissan, 37, and Allen Lasry.
Police later detained and handcuffed a man not far from the synagogue. The youth, believed to be about 17 years old, matched the very loose description of the attacker, who was described as a black man wearing a hoodie, Moore said.
Officers cordoned off the area and continued to search for a possible suspect, Moore said.
There were no security guards in the parking garage but investigators will look at the synagogue's security videos, he said.
There was no immediate word on a motive
"We have to assume, because it was a synagogue, it was a service [and] that there was no other apparent motive, we're looking at it as a hate crime," Lt. John Romero said.
The FBI also responded to the scene, and police alerted nearby Jewish schools and temples and put extra patrols in place. There are several synagogues in the area.
"We are being vigilant for any follow-ups that may occur," Moore said.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, meanwhile, cautioned people not to overreact.
"Until they have concluded their investigation, none of us, none of us should presume or speculate more about this crime other than it was a random act of violence," Villaraigosa said.
LAPD First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell said investigators were trying to determine whether a similar suspect might have been involved in robberies or other crimes in the area.
Shayan Yaghoubi, 13, was walking with his mother to the synagogue's adjoining school but wasn't allowed to cross the police line.
"The cops told us we can't go," he said. "I feel very bad because this is my favorite school ... I have a lot of friends over there. I hope everyone is OK. There's never been a problem with fighting."
The attack occurred 16 kilometers from Jewish community center where white supremacist Buford Furrow wounded three children, a teenager and an adult, in 1999. Furrow later killed a Filipino letter carrier on another street.
Furrow, who is serving a life sentence without chance of parole, told the Daily News of Los Angeles in a letter last month that he had renounced his racist views and regretted the pain he had caused.
In June, an elderly white supremacist shot and killed a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Also, in 2002 an Egyptian shot six Israelis at Los Angeles International Airport, at the Israeli airline El Al's ticket counter, before he was shot and killed by an El Al security guard. Two of the victims died in the attack.
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The Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue in Los Angeles. |
| Photo by: (Ch. 2) |
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To Mohamed from Fairfax, Virginia: Thank you so much for your words of peace, faith and solidarity. We are all brothers and sisters in God's eyes. It is comforting to know that Jews do not stand alone in our battle against anti-semitism and hate. (Most people forget that Arabs are also Semites, as we are both descendants of the Semitic races from the Middle East.) Salaam Aleikum to you. Shukran.
How many times do we see charges dropped against israeli soldiers and settlers when they attack or kill Palestinians
4:20, Shame on you. have you not noticed the messages of support by Arabs and Moslem of the two victims? It is people like you who like to agitate the conflict.
Shooting from the hip before facts surface which might, god forbid, dismiss the antisemitism motive. Am I right to assume that you were among those who loudly protested that the murder of gays at an Israeli club cannot be classified as a hate crime until undoubtedly proven? Let me guess - your professional ambition is becoming a Likud MK.
40+ years of occupation and brutality but probably not. Just more propaganda and lies.
...describe this as a hate crime and it benefits no one to second guess what happened and why. Infact it causes fear and it can even lead to further attacks. Any act of violence for any reason is to be condemned and I am glad that no one was more seriously injured.
must be really annoyed that the victims were injured, not killed. Prevented him from shouting GOLDSTONE REPORT KILLS JEWS!!!
Thanks for making the jump from the 7th to 21st century... Your words not only Honor yourself but they prove your religion is compassionate, and understanding... shalom aleichem/As-salam alaikum my brother from a different biblical mother...
Those Jews call every act of murder of Jews in synagoug antisemistism. What a joke.
Muslims and Jews are the subject of hate crimes in the USA, the extreme right dose not differ between Muslim and Jew, we must both unite! I am a Muslim and I have many Jewish friends who do not agree with either the occupation or the bigotry on both sides, it's time we put our differences behind and Unite! we are family after all!
I'm sure Bibi will make some silly comment on how obsructing further war crimes charges against Israel will save more Jewish Lives abroad - Oh lord I bet I'm right
This synagogue is likely Iranian. It is possible that this black teenager had some unfortunate business or commercial transaction with someone from this synagogue. As to his alleged fury over the goldstone report, well, that is more a loud commentary on the mental state of MK danon than this incident being set off by the teens knowledge and disgruntlement over Israel's slanderous reponse to the report.
This is the level to which Israel has descended. What can one say? This is symptomatic of a national psychosis. People like this Danon simply can't live in a world in which they are constantly on the edge, with waves of anti-semitism ready to engulf them. if it is not there, then they must create it.
Mohamed, thank you for your words of solidarity and compassion. They are greatly appreciated.
To atck someone on the way for prayer is a crime and it doe's not matter who the person is, jew, christian or muslim.
Morris, you have brilliantly articulated the problem. I have always believed that one who discriminates against a Muslim, will in no doubt discriminate against a Jew. Fox, Hannity, Bortz, Rush, Savage the savage, and Coulter, are all promoting hatred, polarizing our society, dividing our people, and inflicting damage to our institutional values and foundations. Thank you for being a true follower of Judaism.
and started talking to him like he was an Ethiopian Jew?
morris, even though you obviously have a dislike for right wingers step back for one second and ask yourself...do you really think this guy is a right winger who listens to rush? if he even voted (which i doubt) do you really think it was for a republican? use your intellect when writing and not your misguided emotions
blood libels promoted by the Swedish press, Turkish TV, Egyptian film productions and press and the UN and its "fact finding missions" are all responsible for this and future such events. P.S. Yes, some of the press is not innocent either...
is desperate to get to London in time for the January sales. To link a random shooting in Los Angeles to random shootings in Gaza and Sderot (there you go both sides treate equally) smacks of desperation, panic even.
Under any circumstances I doubt the Goldstone Report had anything to do with it.
There is plenty of hatred in the US to go around for both Jew and Muslim. I caught some kids the other day giving a yound Muslim women a hard time for wearing a chador. I knew where one of them lived, marched him over to his parents, and complained quite insistently that there is no place in American society for bigotry. Well, they must really love watching Fox News and listening to Rush Limbaugh, becuase the parents respopnse was, basically, their son was doing his patriotic duty to rid the US of its domestic enemies ... Which could have just as easily included a man wearing a floppy black hat and payot. Forget the Goldstone Report as the cause of the shooting - the extreme Right here makes no distinctions between Muslims and Jews.
Danny Damon is an idiot. As a New Yorker Jew, I am offended and insulted. Chances one in a milllion are that some thug who shot the two men, never read an news paper in his life to know what Goldstone is. Danon, you and your likes are making the world hate us.
I honestly hope you are right Rick. Not that long ago in Argentina Jews were attacked for being Jewish. All because everyone seems to get so nervous about world Jewry. I think while it may not be directly related, a damning report is not a healthy situation for all Jews world over. In Caracas Venezuela Jews are being taunted as the Scurge of the world, because of Venezuela's growing interest in IRAN.
That was one of the worst poems I have ever heard. I agree with Arab American. Muslims, Jews, and Christians should go out and support the Temple if this was a hate crime.
It is exploitative/paranoid of Likud MK Danny Danon to declare "The criminal attack in Los Angeles is clear result of the Goldstone report," Sure, it must be clear to him halk way around the world. What the hell does he know? The mayor of LA has said we know nothing about the gunman's motivation.
Likud MK Danny Danon, meanwhile, said the attack was the result of a damning United Nations report on Israel's winter offensive against Hamas in Gaza, authored by South African jurist Richard Goldstone. "The criminal attack in Los Angeles is clear result of the Goldstone report," he said. "Countries across the world need to reject the report, which brings with it hatred and anti-Semitism, and harms the peace process." I call bull$h!t.
The majority of American teens can't name their own vice president or senator, much less have any idea of the Goldstone report. More likely the victims sold the shooter flashy jewelry that turned out to be fake.
""We have to assume, because it was a synagogue, it was a service [and] that there was no other apparent motive, we're looking at it as a hate crime," Lt. John Romero said" seems you did not examine the article closely.
Not everything is obvious. It's a good thing that MK shot off his mouth from Israel. Any local politician doing that would have guaranteed no conviction even with a confession. Why not wait and see what the LA DAs office comes up with as charges? Why not wait and see if the LAPD come up with other suspects? It looks to be a crime. But nobody has enough details to say what the crime really is at this point.
as a moslem, a synogague to me is as sacred as a mosque. prayers are a form of discipline, faith and respect, no matter where we pray. i am saddened and upset that some criminal shot the two innocent jews right outside a symbol of faith and identity. today he shot two jews, tomorrow he will shoot two moslems.
Whether a hate crime, or not, the shooter is a criminal and should be tried for his crime against two worshippers right outside a synogague, which is considered the hiuse of God. If this turns out to be a hate crime, we should all, Moslems, Christians and Jews stand behind this synagogue and its community. If it happens to one of us, it will happen to all of us. These crimes should not be tolerated and the shooter should be given the maximum punishment. Salam, Shalom and Peace.
""A direct result of the Goldstone Report." Likud MK." "Just the facts please. Let normal, rational people form their own opinions. " - Lou Medel "Maybe it was crazy person. Maybe he was drugged up. Maybe it was a Jew. We don't know," - Yehuda Oz, congregation member who was praying in the Synagogue when the victims stumbled in after being shot. Agreed Lou, it seems that ideology trumps reality for some folks. I do think it might be a hate crime, but it is not clear if it was. Under any circumstances I doubt the Goldstone Report had anything to do with it.
judge Richard G. has been played like a violin by the anti-Israeli movement at the UN. Never before was so much good intention used to put the whole thing on its head to aid the bad guys. Useful idiots rejoice at the outcome.
Is the Goldstone Report anti-Semitic? Anti-Israel? Anti-zionist? Anti-Holocaust?...... Just the facts please. Let normal, rational people form their own opinions. Salaam/Shalom
They're not saying it's a hate crime, they're saying it's being probed as a hate crime since they haven't established another obvious motive. Nothing unusual about this.
Since this is the first article I am reading on this, please explain why this is a hate crime. Nothing in the article states why. It just states that a black man got into an arguement with two Jews and then shot them. Was it because they were Jews? If not, then not a hate crime. Oh and BTW, that poem by Big Sur is lame (and he can't spell 'lose'). What does the U.N. have to do with hate crimes? Or a "jihad" for that matter. Unifil? Whatever.
are unconscionable no matter who the victim. There have been a lot of them in the U.S. since 9/11. I sincerely hope this attack doesn't turn out to be a hate crime, and I'm glad the victims apparently weren't seriously hurt.
He will be prosecuted and sentenced if guilty. Charges won't be dropped because of "state security" reasons in the US.
whether it was a hate crime or not. If the shooter had walked in and shot without having had any argument then I would be more inclined to believe that it was a hate crime. In any event he obviously hated the people that he shot. Hopefully tomorrow he will hate himself.
to the perpetrators of hate, you know the ones who think it's great. From P.A.Rabbits who eat Jews to the ones in LA promoting no shoes. I have a message for all of you now its a hate crime , gives the UN something to do. Perhaps Unifil will open it's ears so we will loose hate in the next few years This poetry was written so you will read it. and perhaps not be idiotic and feed it, The hate that feesters from to much JIHAD this is all very bad.