[11 a.m.: Click here to listen live to KNX 1070 Radio.] Updates below: Los Angeles police have detained a man near the North Hollywood shul where two people were shot. Two people were pulling into the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue parking garage shortly before 6:30 a.m. for Shacharis when they were confronted by a man who shot them with a handgun.
It is not clear if the shooting was a robbery attempt or a hate crime.
Police say the men were taken to a hospital in good condition and the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.
The attack occurred 10 miles away from a 1999 shooting at a Jewish community center where white supremacist Buford Furrow wounded three children, a teenager and an adult. He later killed a letter carrier.
Herrera says the victims were taken to a hospital and are stable.
It was not clear how many people were in the building at the time of the shooting.
11:30 a.m. Security has been beefed up at all area shuls and yeshivos. Rabbi Marvin Heier said a short while ago at a press conference that he believes that the shooting was not just a robbery, but rather a hate crime.
12:34 p.m.: Some additional details about today’s incident: The unidentified gunman was wearing a black hoodie when walked into the underground parking garage of Adas Yeshurun at 12405 Sylvan St. He approached a man in his 40s.
“Without any words,” LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore said, the suspect shot the man in the leg. He then fired at a second man in his 40s. The gunman then fled from the garage.
Moore said police do not believe the motive was robbery.
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called the incident “a senseless act of violence.” The mayor was careful to temper worries that the shooting was a hate crime.
“None of us should presume or speculate more about this other than it was a random act of violence.”
LAPD detectives are reviewing security videotapes from the shul in hopes of better understanding the chain of events.
Yehuda Oz, 53, of Tunisian descent, has attended the shul for the last 15 years. As he davened with some 15 others in the shul, four gunshots broke the silence, he said. He said he heard screams from the parking lot, then saw two men stumble into the shul. Their blood spread over the floor as people rushed to stop the bleeding, Yehuda said, but no one inside saw the shooter.
“Maybe it was crazy person. Maybe he was drugged up. Maybe it was a Jew. We don’t know,” Yehuda said.
The shul has mostly Moroccan and other North African mispallelim.
The shul installed security cameras years ago to discourage attacks, Yehuda said.
A girls’ school at the shul with 112 students canceled classes today.
“The feeling is that we’ve got to keep our eyes open for each other,” said Rabbi Nachman Nabend, from Chabad of North Hollywood. “It makes me angry when anyone gets targeted.”
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