A suspect has been arrested for allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks outside a synagogue in the Wilshire area in a case that has been classified as a hate crime, authorities said Monday.
The incident occurred about 9:30 p.m. Friday near the 300 block of North La Brea Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Details of the arrest were expected to be released at a news conference Monday morning at the LAPD’s headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
ABC7 reported that the suspect is a 32-year-old man named Mohamed Mohamed who is suspected of assault with a deadly weapon, his vehicle. The station quoted police and witnesses saying Mohamed tried to run over two people on the sidewalk near a synagogue in a largely Jewish neighborhood near La Brea and Oakwood avenues Friday night.
He missed the pedestrians and then turned around to hit them again, a witness said. He missed the second time and then took off, smashing into another vehicle and totaling both cars near Oakwood and Highland avenues. Witnesses say the suspect got out of his car, approached the people in the other vehicle and yelled derogatory remarks about their religion.
He’s being held in lieu of $55,000 bail.