Rash of pellet gun shootings is probed

Police are investigating a recent spate of pellet gun shootings around Los Angeles that included an attack on two Orthodox Jews near Melrose Avenue in what authorities are calling a hate crime.

At 9:45 p.m. Thursday, two men in a black four-door car drove up near a group of young Jews dressed in traditional clothing, rolled down their windows and fired several rounds of pellets while yelling derogatory, anti-Semitic remarks, said Officer Jason Lee of the Los Angeles Police Department.

None of the men were seriously injured in the attack, but at least one was hit in the neck with a pellet, police said. Investigators believe the weapon used resembles a black handgun but fires hard pellets instead of bullets.

The men, who were attacked near La Brea and Waring avenues, are students at a nearby Yeshiva, a Jewish school that trains rabbis.

Five pellet gun shootings between Thursday night and 4 a.m. Friday targeted residents in the Melrose and Mid-Wilshire areas, police said.

Officers said they are still investigating the crimes, and though they seem similar and could be connected, they are not yet sure. LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said he has added extra patrols to the Melrose Avenue area and is working closely with Jewish leaders in the community to ensure that the upcoming High Holy Days are without incident. Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, begins in less than three weeks and is followed by Yom Kippur, the most holy of Jewish celebrations.

In a show of political force and unity, LAPD officials along with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilman Jack Weiss joined with Jewish community leaders -- including Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, rabbis Baruch Cunin and Chaim Cunin of Chabad of California and Amanda Susskind of the Anti-Defamation League -- at Melrose Avenue Elementary School on Friday afternoon to denounce the violence.

“We can’t control the events that took place, but we can control our reaction to them,” Chaim Cunin said. “This is to show that the community is united, that our community will not tolerate this.”

Villaraigosa called the incident an “ugly act of anti-Semitism” and said the attack was a blow against all Angelenos.

“This attack will not go unanswered,” he said. “As one voice, as one city, we must come together to condemn this attack.”

After Friday’s announcement, Villaraigosa and Weiss comforted one of the Orthodox Jews targeted in the attack.

The sun was on its way down when the young man, wearing a traditional black coat, black pants and black hat, left after shaking the dignitaries’ hands. It was less than two hours before Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, and he said he needed to get ready.

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ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com