Synagogues in L.A. on alert after shooting that police are investigating as a hate crime [Updated]

Source: LA Times

Two worshipers at a North Hollywood synagogue were shot this this morning in an attack LAPD detectives are investigating as a hate crime.

The shooting occurred at 6:20 a.m. at the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue, at 12405 Sylvan St.

LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore said the shootings occurred in the underground garage of the temple. A man coming to the temple for worship parked his car in the lot and was approached by suspect who Moore said was wearing a black hoodie.

"Without any words," Moore said, the suspect shot the man in the leg. Then the gunman fired on a second man who had arrived for prayers. That second victim was also wounded in the leg.


Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/synagogues-in-la-on-alert-after-shooting-that-police-believe-was-hate-crime.html

snip

The synagogue's rabbi said the attack came as people were leaving the building.

"People were leaving the synagogue after Shaharit … a man who was standing outside, hiding so that he won't be seen, started shooting, hit two people and then ran away," Rabbi Yossi Malka, the synagogue's rabbi told Army Radio after the incident.

Speaking in Hebrew, Malka told the station that "police said this was a hate crime… that it was done because this was a Jewish synagogue ."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256799043427&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


There seems to be conflicting info regarding the person who was detained.

LA Times states:
At about 7:40 a.m., Los Angeles police arrested a man near the synagogue but the sources say they don't believe he was the gunman.

Haaretz is reporting:
Los Angeles Police subsequently detained a man whom they believed to be the gunman.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1124559.html

snip

Police later detained and handcuffed a man less than a mile 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.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3797523,00.html

idly musing about why there might be SO MANY HELICOPTERS hovering overhead, lol. She needs to turn on the radio in the morning.

Two guys shot in the leg at 6:20 AM? I suspect it's a message to someone, perhaps to the victims. I'll bet the description of the perp was a red herring.

Good job sniffing that out. The LAPD appears to have come around to your perspective.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-synagogue31-2009oct31,0,4940536.story

:sarcasm:

snip

Updated at 12:37 p.m.: A 17-year-old who was detained this morning near the synagogue for questioning in the shooting has been released, according to LAPD Lt. John Romero.

While police initially said they were investigating the shooting as a hate crime, officials later said it's too early to tell whether the attack was motivated by religious hate.

The initial description of the suspect was of a black man wearing a black hoodie. But law enforcement sources told The Times that the investigation was wide open and that police were investigating all possibilities, including whether the gunman specifically targeted either of the victims.

One source said detectives were not certain of the suspect's race.

snip

Updated at 12:38 p.m.: Several law enforcement sources also said investigators are looking at whether the shootings were related to a business or personal dispute. The sources said detectives believe one of the victims was the target, and that a second victim may have been shot because he witnessed the attack.

More at link:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/detectives-search-for-suspect-motive-in-la-synagogue-shooting.html

snip

Avi Barkay, a nephew of Adat Yeshurun’s Rabbi Amram Gabay, identified the victims as Maor Ben-Nissan, 37, and Allen Lasry. Both men were wounded in the legs.

The victims were taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center and Valley Presbyterian Hospital, said Rabbi Yossi Malka, a chaplain with the LAPD. Ben-Nissan is currently at Holy Cross in Mission Hills, where he is recovering from surgery, according to the Los Angeles Times. Valley Presbyterian in Van Nuys would not comment on Lasry’s current condition.

The shooting took place at 6:18 a.m. in the subterranean parking structure of the synagogue, located at 12405 Sylvan St. in North Hollywood, south of Victory Boulevard, just before the second of three morning minyanim, or prayer services.

LAPD Deputy Chief Michel R. Moore said a man with a gun approached two men on their way into the synagogue for morning prayers. Congregants who were inside the synagogue at the time reported hearing four shots fired.

A press conference was held this morning near the synagogue. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that the crime at this point is being treated as a random act of violence and not a hate crime. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said “We live in a world where hate crimes are part of our reality,” but he would not speculate as to whether this morning’s events constitute a hate crime.

There are some 18 synagogues in the North Hollywood area. Adat Yeshurun is located in an area with a large Orthodox Jewish population, with many kosher stores nearby.

snip

Adat Yeshurun is the spritual home of 150 families from Cuba, Argentina, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia, Libya and Israel.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/community/article/two_shot_at_north_hollywood_syngogue_warning_issued_to_jewish_schools_20091/

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By day's end, authorities had come to believe that the shooting, in which two men were wounded, was probably a far more mundane crime.

"There is absolutely no evidence to support any connection to terrorism or a hate crime," said Mike Downing, deputy chief of the LAPD's Counter Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-synagogue30-2009oct30,0,4154102.story

"This investigation is wide open," said Capt. Sharyn Buck, who oversees the LAPD's North Hollywood Division.


It's unwise to assume anything about motive at this point, though I think it's highly unlikely that this was just a random act of violence.

edit for spelling

The drift I got from the article is that they think there is some personal motive, the perps knew one or more of the victims. An unpaid debt perhaps?

Los Angeles police detectives said Friday that they have "strong leads" in the shooting that left two people wounded Thursday morning at a North Hollywood synagogue.

Detective Rich Wheeler says federal authorities are using high-tech equipment to enhance and clarify grainy video footage from the parking garage at the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Synagogue where the two men were shot as they arrived for a morning service. The footage shows the gunman, officials said.

After determining that the attack wasn't a hate crime and ruling out terrorism, detectives are focusing on other motives, Wheeler said.

"We are working on some information but I am not prepared at this stage to share that," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-synagogue31-2009oct31,0,4940536.story