The suspect who was arrested in February 2023 for two shootings of Jewish men as they left synagogues in Los Angeles has agreed to plead guilty to all of the charges he is facing, the US Justice Department announced.
Jaime Tran, 29, will plead guilty to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying and discharging a firearm during a violent crime. Under the plea agreement, Tran will receive a prison sentence of 35 to 40 years, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Had the case gone to trial, Tran would have faced a potential life sentence.
According to US Attorney Martin Estrada, Tran, who had a previous track record of antisemitic behavior, “sought to murder two men simply because they were Jewish.”
The attacks took place on consecutive days in February 2023 in Pico-Robertson, a heavily Jewish neighborhood in LA. Tran drove to the area and shot a man wearing a kippah as he left a synagogue, then returned the following morning and shot a second man, also wearing a kippah and exiting another synagogue blocks away.
Both victims survived with only minor injuries. Tran was arrested the following day and has remained in custody since.
