The L.A. Police Department will maintain a higher police presence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood through the weekend following an arrest in connection with the shootings of two Jewish men who were reportedly leaving morning prayer services on Wednesday and Thursday. The victims are being treated for injuries; one was shot in the arm, and the other was shot twice in the lower back.
Reactions to the arrest
“The arrest of the person accused of shooting two Jewish men in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood in 24 hours gives a sigh of relief to L.A.’s Jewish community,” said Jeffrey Abrams, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, in a written statement.
Also in a written statement, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said, “[M]y 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.”
About the community
The arrest was made a day before weekly Shabbat observance on Friday night, when many Orthodox Jews walk in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood to religious services.
We talked to Rabbi Eli Stern, of LINK Kollel, who called the attacks “very frightening and very unnerving.” He noted a rise in assaults on people who are “visible Jews.”
“Orthodox Jews are visible Jews,” he explained. “We wear a skull cap, we wear a yarmulke, many of us have beards, our women dress modestly. We are very vulnerable in that respect.”
Rise in antisemitism
The L.A. shooting is being investigated by local and federal authorities as a hate crime. Antisemitic violence and language has been on the rise in the United States in recent years.
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