After LA synagogue shootings, suspect tracked down, arrested in Cathedral City

Hours after shooting someone as they left a Los Angeles synagogue, a 28-year-old man was found in Cathedral City and arrested after firing an AK-style rifle there, the FBI said Friday. No one was injured by the gunfire in Cathedral City, which happened behind the former Elks Lodge building on East Palm Canyon Drive.

In addition to shooting a man Thursday, Jaime Tran is accused of shooting a second man a day earlier. Both victims survived.

Federal prosecutors filed hate-crimes charges against him Friday, saying he admitted to intentionally targeting the two because they are Jewish and had earlier told classmates Jewish people were "primitive." He had also repeatedly sent one ex-classmate threatening and antisemitic text messages, according to an FBI agent's affidavit filed in court.

Tran, who previously lived in Riverside and told officers he is homeless, was charged with committing a hate crime by interference with federally protected activities and use of a firearm in a felony, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Friday.

He was arrested "without incident" Thursday evening after Cathedral City police got a report of gunfire at about 5:45 p.m. behind the former Elks Lodge, Chief George Crum told The Desert Sun. That's across from the shopping center that includes Trader Joe's and Target.

According to the FBI, a witness had seen a man with a gun near a Honda Civic and when Cathedral City officers arrived, they saw Tran standing near the front door of a Civic, with an AK-style rifle and .380-caliber handgun both visible on the driver's seat. A spent casing that matched an AK-style rifle was found at the scene.

"We just were in the right place at the right time," Crum said, adding that agents quickly figured out Tran was the man wanted in the synagogue shootings.

The Los Angeles Police Department had already tracked a phone associated Tran to the Palm Springs area, the FBI said, and Crum said Coachella Valley police departments had been alerted to be on the lookout for him.

Crum said there was "no obvious target" for Crum where he fired the gun, since he was behind a building that backs up to the mountains.

Tran appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. A judge ordered him held without bond until a March 9 arraignment.

The defendant was “motived by antisemitism,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles. “Hate crimes have no place in our community.”

If convicted of both charges, Tran would face up to life in federal prison, Estrada said.

In a Mirandized, recorded interview, Tran acknowledged having intentionally shot the two victims, according to the court complaint.

Tran told agents he searched for a kosher market on Yelp, drove to one and selected his victims because of their “head gear,” according to the complaint.

The LAPD announced before the arrest it was “re-allocating police resources to provide a highly visible and preventative presence in the area.”

“In an abundance of caution, there will continue to be an increased police presence and patrols around Jewish places of worship and surrounding neighborhoods through the weekend,” the department announced following the arrest.

The first shooting occurred around 9:55 a.m. Wednesday in the 1400 block of Shenandoah Street, near Pico Boulevard, between Robertson and La Cienega boulevards. A man in his 40s was shot in the back while walking to his vehicle, authorities told the Los Angeles Times.

The second occurred at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the 1600 block of South Bedford Street, two blocks south of Pico Boulevard and one block east of Shenandoah Street. The man was shot in an arm, the Times reported.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Thursday that “antisemitism and hate crimes have no place in our city or our country”

“Those who engage in either will be caught and held fully accountable,” Bass said. “At a time of increased antisemitism, these acts have understandably set communities on edge.

“Just last December, I stood blocks away from where these incidents occurred as we celebrated the first night of Hanukkah together. Now, my pledge to the Pico-Robertson community and to the city of Los Angeles as a whole, is that we will fight this hatred vigorously and work every day to defeat it.”

According to the complaint, Tran ― a former dental student ― emailed dozens of his former classmates in December, encouraging them to blame any “inconvenience” or lost revenue from the COVID-19 lockdowns on the “Iranian Jew.”

Desert Sun News Editor Eric Hartley and City News Service contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Suspect in Los Angeles synagogue shootings arrested in Cathedral City