Suspect charged with a hate crime and held on $500,000 bail, faces up to eight years in prison.
By Sam Catanzaro
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday that they had charged a man for a hate attack crime after the suspect attempted to hit two individuals with his car outside a temple on La Brea Boulevard on November 23.
At around 9 p.m. Friday evening, 32-year-old Mohammed Mohammed Abdi allegedly barreled a rental car towards two potentially orthodox Jewish men likely leaving a Shabbat service at Congregation Bais Yehuda on the 300 Block of La Brea Boulevard, a largely Jewish neighborhood. No injuries have been reported. Police arrested Abdi on assault with a deadly weapon charge. Police also found a knife while searching the rental car.
Security footage that captured the incident shows Abdi attempt to hit the two men, miss, before attempting and missing again before crashing his rental car into a parked vehicle near Oakwood and Highland Avenue, totaling both cars. According to eyewitnesses, Abdi was yelling racial and antisemitic epithets during the assault.
According to police and eyewitnesses, the victims were wearing clothing typically worn by Orthodox Jews on Shabbat. After an investigation into the motive’s of the suspect by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has brought hate crime attack charges against Abdi, in addition to two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and a vehicle. He faces a possible maximum sentence of eight years and eight months in state prison if convicted as charged. The prosecutor is requesting that bail be set at $500,000.
“This type of hate and violence will not stand and I will do everything in my power to make sure that our communities are protected and secure. This incident could have been worse, but fortunately quick-thinking witnesses dialed 911,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz who represents Century City and District 5 where the incident occurred. “I continue to strongly encourage, as I always have, members of our community to carry cell phones, be on the lookout for suspicious behavior, and always take precautions while in public places. Please continue to stay vigilant and if you see something, say something by dialing 911 or contact the local authorities.”
Abdi is a U.S. citizen born in Somalia who, but according to LAPD Chief Michael Moore, had only arrived in Los Angeles a few days ago. At a news conference Monday, Moore said the 32-year-old Abdi had emigrated to the Seattle several years ago, before recently renting a car to drive to Los Angeles.
LAPD Deputy Chief Horace Frank thinks Abdi’s adopted mode of attack — driving toward a group of pedestrians — was “very concerning.” He noted that Abdi’s actions are similar to those of other acts of terror in recent years, where “lone wolf” attackers have employed a rented vehicle as opposed to an explosive or firearm to cause carnage in public, open spaces.
This is not the first antisemitic attack the area has seen. On March 3 of this year a serial vandal spray-painted, “Jew Rat” on a bank and a kosher market on the same block in West Los Angeles. A synagogue is located across the street from the bank.
According to the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations’ recently released 2017 Hate Crimes Report, while overall religious motived hate crimes did not rise in the county, Anti-Semitic crimes rose four percent from 2016. In addition, 72 percent of all religious hate crimes were targeted at the Jewish community.
