Asian man who shot 2 Jewish men in L.A. had trouble with Persian Jews; was influenced by Goyim Defense League propagandizing

Asian man who shot men leaving synagogues in 2
consecutive days in kosher Los Angeles neighborhood
was out on bail for a prior weapons charge

On February 15th and 16th, two Jewish men were shot in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles. The alleged shooter, Jaime Tranh, of Asian ethnicity, has been arrested and is currently facing federal hate crime charges for antisemitism. 

He had attached a photo of a Goyim Defense League flyer in an email to classmates about two months before the attack. 

Antisemitic flyer GDL distributed in Beverly Hills November '21 (photo: The Jewish News of Northern California)

The Goyim Defense League (GDL), a neo-Nazi hate group, who previously conducted several anti-Semitic activities in Los Angeles, including distributing antisemitic flyers and stickers on private doorsteps, filmed themselves in Orlando antagonizing Jewish people outside of a Chabad House on Friday 17 February.

 
Video posted on social media shows Jon Minadeo, who founded the antisemitic group bellowing slurs and insults at Jewish people leaving the Chabad campus Friday 17 February.

Zionistic-American from Central California explains what lies  of the neo-Nazis he flew to D.C. to challenge. Prominent GDL member, Patrick Little outside AIPAC'19 Convention in Washington, DC is also challenged by rival neo-Nazis. 

According to the criminal complaint against Jaime Tranh, the shooting was motivated by Mr. Tranh’s hatred of Jews and other minorities. The criminal complaint states that Tranh's hatred of Jews was long-standing and that Tranh had written several online posts expressing anti-Semitic views and had posted pictures of Nazi symbols. 

The complaint further alleges that Tranh had planned the shooting in advance, and had purchased a gun several days prior to the incident. 

TRAN admitted that he was responsible for shooting someone in the Los Angeles area earlier in the day. 

TRAN stated that he had looked up a “kosher market” on Yelp and decided to shoot someone in the area of the market. 

TRAN also acknowledged that he shot another victim in the Los Angeles area the previous day. 

TRAN said he knew the victims he shot were Jewish because of their “head gear.” 

TRAN said he was homeless and had been living out of his vehicle for the last 12 to 14 months. 

TRAN stated that he obtained the firearms from someone he did not know in Arizona.

Suspected Pico-Robertson shooter Jaime Tran sent this email to classmates on Nov. 25, 2022. 
Illustration by Benyamin Cohen (photo courtesy: The Forward)

TRAN Has a History of Making Antisemitic Comments and Threats 

1. TRAN Sent Antisemitic and Threatening Text Messages to a Former Classmate Throughout 2022 Between August 2022 and November 2022, TRAN repeatedly called and texted M.N.H., who is Jewish and who was a classmate of TRAN’s at a dental school TRAN was attending at one time. TRAN sent M.N.H. numerous threatening and antisemitic voicemails and text messages. According to M.N.H., TRAN was expelled in 2018. 

M.N.H. believed it was TRAN calling him because he recognized TRAN’s voice and because TRAN had made similar antisemitic remarks prior to being expelled. 

TRAN sent the following text messages to M.N.H.’s cellular telephone in 2022: 

 a. “Fucking Jew. Piece of shit Jew. FUCK YOU JEW. JEWBAG JEWBAGEL JEW.” 

 b. “FUCK YOU PIECE OF LITERAL FUCKING SHIT JEW. YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT. I HATE YOU LIKE FUCKING CRAZY YOU FUCKING 10 STUPID PATHETIC LOSER SUBHUMAN TRASH UGLY DISGUSTING WORTHLESS SENSELESS JEW." 

 c. “Someone is going to kill you, Jew. Someone is going to kill you, Jew. Someone is going to kill you, Jew. Someone is going to kill you, Jew.” 

d. “Fuck you Jew.” 

e. “FUCK YOU JEW. Just kill yourself tonight you fucking Jew. I want you dead, Jew. Someone is going to kill you, Jew.”
f. “Kill yourself you Jew.” 

g. “Cut your dick off and bleed to death you fucking Jew.” 

h. “Fuck you, you fucking retarded faggot Jew.”
i. “FUCKING JEW.” j. “Fucking bitch Jew. Your mom is a slutty whore, your sister is a man, and your dad sucks d*ck for a living. Burn in an oven chamber you bitch Jew.”

TRAN then included a photograph of a gas chamber.
2. TRAN Sent an Antisemitic Email to Classmates in or Around November 2022 On or around November 25, 2022, TRAN emailed dozens of former classmates at the same dental school.
TRAN wrote: “That Persian/Iranian Jew of the Class of 2020 made up a fake, bs disease (COVID) and based it on the anesthesia incident that I had with [J.M.] and [J.S.].”
TRAN included a photograph of a flier reading “EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THE COVID AGENDA IS 11 JEWISH.” The flier listed various government officials and the word “JEWISH” written next to the name of every official.

3. TRAN Sent Antisemitic Email to Classmates In or Around December 2022 In or around December 2022, TRAN again emailed dozens of his former classmates. TRAN titled the email: “IMPORTANT Announcement to . . . [the] School of Dentistry.” In it, TRAN told his classmates: “If you were ever inconvenienced and/or denied entry because of the masking policy or the proof of vaccination policy, you should be upset at the Iranian Jew. If you, or a loved one’s business lost revenue by the lockdowns, you should be upset at the Iranian Jew.” TRAN included a screen shot from a website defining a “Persian Jew.” The screen shot noted that “Persian Jew[s]. . . can be found in tiny apartments in Westwood and Beverly Hills” and described them as “primitive,” “narrow minded,” and as having “thick skulls.” The screen shot further noted that “Persian Jews. . .scrap nickels and dimes,” “never donate to any charities,” and have “no respect towards people of other backgrounds.” The description noted that “Persian Jews’. . . men look like women and their women resemble to men. Short, thick, dark, and ugly.” TRAN concluded the email: “Going forward, I hope you all spread the word to your loved ones about the origins of COVID. I tagged the Iranian Jew, such as [M.N.H.], and his associates in this email so you could ask them about it.  The shootings occurred near the Westwood/Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles. 12 hope they quit putting tabs on me to the Jewish community and creeping on all of my socials.”

You may read the full criminal complaint here. 

On Monday night Feb. 20th, Jewish community leaders gathered Los Angeles' most powerful officials for a town-hall on how to combat hate and antisemitism following a pair of shootings in Pico-Robertson. "The horror we are experiencing is real," said Rabbi Noah Farkas, President/CEO Jewish Federation. LA's top cops Michel Moore and Robert Luna as well as Mayor Karen Bass all appeared to show their support.

Officials also pointed out that the number of hate crimes across the board may be worse than we know. "As bad and scary as hate crime stats are," said Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel. "Hate crimes are dramatically under-reported. That is the truth and anyone who is paying attention to this will tell you that. We are facing much more hate, even that the statistics tell us we are."