CNN
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Police in Los Angeles have arrested a man suspected of shooting two Jewish people this week and are investigating the attacks as possible hate crimes, authorities said Thursday.
An “exhaustive” search for the suspect was launched after the victims were shot separately in the city’s western Pico-Robertson neighborhood on Wednesday and Thursday, about three blocks apart, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a release.
Both victims were Jewish men, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Officials have not publicly identified the victims or suspect.
“These attacks against members of our Jewish community in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood are absolutely unacceptable,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “At a time of increased anti-Semitism, these acts have understandably set communities on edge. Just last December, I stood blocks away from where these incidents occurred as we celebrated the first night of Hanukkah together.”
The suspect was found in Riverside County, about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles, police said. Detectives found several pieces of evidence, they said, including a rifle and handgun.
Earlier, authorities said they were searching for a suspect described as an Asian male with a mustache and goatee, possibly driving a white compact car. A license plate recorded near the scene of one of the shootings assisted authorities in locating and arresting the suspect, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
“The facts of the case led to this crime being investigated as a hate crime,” Los Angeles police said. The FBI is also investigating the attacks as hate crimes, Bass said in her statement.
At around 10 a.m. Wednesday, the first victim was walking to their vehicle when a man drove by and shot twice before…
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