Jaime Tran, 29, who pleaded guilty in June to shooting and trying to kill two Jewish men in Los Angeles as they left synagogue on Feb. 15 and 16, was sentenced to 35 years, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.
The sentence was the low end of the plea agreement, which was for 35 to 40 years for Tran’s federal hate crimes.
“After years of spewing antisemitic vitriol, the defendant planned and carried out a two-day attack attempting to murder Jews leaving synagogue in Los Angeles,” stated Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general.
“As millions of Jewish Americans prepare to observe the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Justice Department reaffirms its commitment to aggressively confronting, disrupting and prosecuting criminal acts motivated by antisemitism, or by hatred of any kind,” Garland said. “No Jewish person in America should have to fear that any sign of their identity will make them the victim of a hate crime.”
Per the department, Tran “obsessed over his antisemitic hatred for years leading up to the attack.”