Former LBSU Alumni was charged with a hate crime after shooting two individuals leaving a synagogue.
Jaime Tran, a 28-year-old male, was arrested on Thursday after committing two separate hate-motivated attacks over a 2-day period.
Tran used the business review app, Yelp, to locate the Jewish neighborhood by searching for the nearest Kosher Market in the Pico Robertson district.
On Wednesday, he drove to the area and shot the first victim at close range as the victim was leaving the synagogue nearby.
The next day, Tran returned to the neighborhood and shot another victim leaving a different synagogue.
Both victims were wearing clothing identifiable with the Jewish faith including black jackets and head coverings. Tran confessed to shooting the victims based on their proximity to a kosher market and their traditional Jewish clothing.
Tran has a history of making antisemitic messages and statements to his peers. According to a complaint in 2022, Tran told classmates that Jewish people are “primitive” and are to blame for economic disparities. He also threatened a classmate through a text message saying, “Someone is going to kill you, Jew” and “I want you dead, Jew”.
Prior to this incident, Tran was arrested in July of 2022 by the UPD for carrying a loaded, stolen gun on the LBSU campus. He was arrested without incident and the hearing was set for later this month.
Unfortunately, students were not notified about the incident due to their Timely Warning policy. The University decided that since Tran was detained immediately, during summer break on a weekend, there was no urgency to notify students.
Only seven months later, Tran is arrested again, and charged with violent hate crimes. The series of events that unfolded begs the question, if there had been more awareness brought to his initial arrest, could this crime have been avoided?
These incidents that happened on campus with Tran bring up safety concerns for students because of the initial lack of transparency. Only after these hate crimes were committed, the University sent out an email acknowledging the 2022 complaint brought against his anti-semitic comments along with his arrest on campus that same year.
It is imperative not only for students but all faculty and the surrounding community to be informed of concerns that are racially motivated despite the disruption it may cause. It is the public’s right to be aware of concerning behavior to be able to look out for warning signs and potentially stop conflict before it escalates.
Circumstances like these are when the University community needs to take a step back and see where improvement can be made.
Should a blast email have been sent out the day he was arrested? Could there have been more consequences given to Tran by the University for his antisemitism towards classmates, or is to, “leave the matter in the hands of prosecutors” (as stated in an email sent by CSULB President Jane Close Conoley) the best option they could have chosen with their own student?
It is now time to focus on healing the community, and many would agree that education and exposure are great tools that can aid in crime prevention. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said, “Public health strategies to address crime and violence focus on building resilience and reducing susceptibility, building healthy gender norms, developing healthy relationships, and creating protective environments.”
