Jaime Tran, 28, was charged Friday withtwo counts of federal hate crimes in connection with the shootingsthat occurred on Wednesday and Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) stated in an official news release.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court Friday, Tran told police after his arrest that helooked up kosher markets on Yelp to find targetsand “decided to shoot someone in the area of the market,” ABC 7 reported.

Crime-scene tape.Getty

Yellow police tape

PertheL.A. Times, the complaint states that Tran has ahistory of making antisemitic threats, emailing dozens of former classmates that Jews are “primitive” and repeatedly texting another former classmate threatening messages such as “I want you dead, Jew.”

The Los Angeles Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

LAPD

A 28-year-old former Riverside resident suspected of shooting two Jewish men after they left West Los Angeles synagogues less than 24 hours apart was charged Friday with two federal hate crime counts that could put him behind bars for life. Jaime Tran, who was arrested Thursday by Cathedral City police, was charged with committing hate crime acts in connection with the shootings, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.. Credit: LAPD

Calling the shootings “two horrific acts,” Estrada said, “This type of criminal conduct is absolutely unacceptable,” according to theL.A. Times.

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The first shooting occurred Wednesday morning at around 10 a.m. near the intersection of Shenandoah and Cashio. A man in his 40s was walking to his vehicle when he was shot in the back, according to the DOJ’s statement.

The second took place around 8 a.m. on Thursday near Pickford and South Bedford, where a man walking home was shot in the arm, per the DOJ.

Both victims survived the attacks, despite being shot in close range leaving religious services, the DOJ release stated.

“We were lucky that we’re not going to funerals. That’s just the reality,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper from the Simon Wiesenthal Center said at a news conference announcing the charges on Friday, per theL.A. Times.

Damian Dovarganes/AP/Shutterstock

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP/Shutterstock (13772696a) Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounces anti-Semitism and hate crimes at a news conference at the U.S. Attorney’s Office Central District of California offices in Los Angeles . At left, United States Attorney Martin Estrada and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Don Always, right. A person was taken into custody Thursday in connection with the shootings of two Jewish men outside synagogues in Los Angeles this week that investigators believe were hate crimes, police said Shootings Arrest, Los Angeles, United States - 17 Feb 2023

According to theL.A. Times, councilmember Katy Young Yaroslavsky, whose district includes Pico-Robertson, said Thursday the shootings coincide with “a rise in antisemitic attacks in recent months.”

“No one should risk their lives to go to a dance or to religious services,” he added.

Jeffrey Abrams, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles, said in a statement that the arrest “gives a sigh of relief to L.A.’s Jewish community.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass praised authorities for the arrest in a statement on Friday at a news conference announcing the charges.

“We can rest hopefully a little bit easier,” she said. “Still, antisemitism and terror are tragically on the rise across our city and across our nation. My administration is resolute against hate, and we have made it a chief component of our public safety agenda.”

source: people.com