Thirty days after the deadliest attack in U.S. Jewish history, an American citizen from Somalia has been charged in Los Angeles with assault with a deadly weapon to commit a hate crime after law enforcement said that on Nov. 23, he attempted to kill with his car two Jewish men leaving their synagogue.
The suspect was also said to have shouted anti-Semitic remarks.
Mohamed Mohamed Abdi was charged on Monday with assault with a deadly weapon.
The allegation is being treated as a hate crime, according to KTLA.
The men, ages 37 and 57, were with a group after an event at Congregation Bais Yehuda when they heard Abdi yell out anti-Jewish slurs, according to LAPD deputy chief Horace Frank.
The two had their eyes on the car and walked away, but describe him driving through a red light, making a U-turn and charging towards them.
“Hate in America is on the rise,” said LAPD chief Michel Moore. “That has to change.”
Ivan Wolkind, chief operating and financial officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, who also supervises the federation’s five-and-a-half-year-old Community Security Initiative, told JNS: “This is exactly the kind of attack we’ve been training people for. What happened in Pittsburgh and what happened here. My understanding is what was attempted here in Los Angeles is what people have called a ‘crash-and-slash attack’ … where terrorists will drive a car into pedestrians and jump out with a [weapon], and then try to follow that up with stabbing with an attack of the knife.”
“This type of hate and violence will not stand,” declared L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz about the tragedy that occurred in his district. “My colleagues and I will do everything in our power to make sure that our communities are protected and secure. We will continue to fight anti-Semitism and bigotry, and we will continue to shine light on the darkness of hate.”