John Kevin Lapinski Jr. was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Aug. 29 for “a series of firearm offenses and for amassing weapons, tactical gear and attack plans targeting Jewish and black Americans,” the U.S. Justice Department said.
The 41-year-old, of Margate in the Miami metropolitan area, had pleaded guilty to owning a gun and body armor as a convicted felon and having an unregistered silencer.
Police found a “shooting target depicting a black male riddled with bullet holes” in Lapinski’s Florida home, where they also found five guns, more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, gun parts, two silencers, body armor, smoke grenades, tactical gear and a camouflage Ghillie suit, on Oct. 31, 2024, the department stated.
As a convicted felon, he was barred from owning such items.
In his home, police also found “maps of local schools, parks and other community sites scrawled with racial slurs targeting black and Jewish people, as well as a ‘target list’ naming ‘groups to attack’ based on race and religion,” the department said. “The list included a Jewish member of Congress, local synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, and other religious and ethnically identified sites.”
Investigators tied Lapinski to an August 2024 attack, in which the “home and vehicle of a Jewish resident were riddled with bullets,” the Justice Department stated.
“This defendant stockpiled weapons, tactical gear and detailed attack plans to terrorize Jewish and black Americans in our communities,” stated Jason A. Reding Quiñones, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “His intent was not abstract. It was written on his maps, his targets and his so-called hit list.”
