A man accused of using a belt to attack an elderly Jewish man in Beverly Hills who was on his way to a synagogue to observe Shabbat over the weekend was arrested and charged with assault, prosecutors said Tuesday, Dec. 12.
Police said Jarris Jay Silagi, 44, attacked a 75-year-old man and tried to rob his wife on Saturday, Dec. 9, running at them before hitting the man with the belt multiple times.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Gascón said Silagi used enough force to leave the elderly man with severe injuries to his head.
Silagi, arrested the same day as the attack, was charged with one count each of attempted robbery, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. He was also charged with two counts of assault.
As of Tuesday, Silagi had not been charged with any hate crimes, though Gascón said the victim was wearing a yarmulke at the time of the attack. And the victim’s wife told KTLA the attacker yelled at her, ‘Give me your earrings, Jew’“
Hate crimes around the country have increased since 2016, and have spiked amid the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
“We are seeing a crisis of hate crimes,” Gascón said. “These cases are symptoms of that.”
Beverly Hills police said Silagi is homeless.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Kim, who is assigned to the case, said Silagi appeared in court on Tuesday. In that hearing, his public defender expressed doubt as to whether Silagi understood the charges against him. A judge ordered the criminal proceedings against him to be halted while Silagi’s mental health is evaluated.
In a separate case Tuesday, prosecutors also charged a man accused of spray-painting swastikas and other antisemitic symbols on a synagogue, a church and businesses in Burbank and Glendale with vandalism and hate crimes.
The man — Klinton Allister Dion, 32 — has not been arrested yet, officials said.
He was charged with two counts of vandalizing religious property and 10 counts of hate crimes, all felonies, for what police said was a string of vandalism across the two cities in late November.
Related Articles
Almost $1M raised for Palestinian student paralyzed in shooting
Father of Palestinian American boy slain outside Chicago files wrongful death lawsuit
UC Berkeley, law school sued over ‘unchecked’ antisemitism
Vermont: One of three shot students may not walk again
Suspect in shooting of 3 men of Palestinian descent near the University of Vermont pleads not guilty
Police said Dion was the suspect identified at an IHOP restaurant in Glendale on Nov. 24 when someone discovered “drawings of an Iron Cross and a swastika” scrawled on a wall. About two hours later, police said Dion spray painted the same symbols on Temple Emanu El in Burbank.
The next day, Dion left swastikas and “SS” symbols at several locations around Glendale: On an electrical box, a newspaper stand, on a bridge, on the side of Moonlight Rollerway, an Extra Space Storage Center and Commercial Kitchen, authorities said. Dion is also accused of drawing a swastika on the side of Emmanuel Church in Burbank sometime from Nov. 22 to Nov. 27.
Police said Tuesday that Dion is homeless, and that he has not yet been taken into custody. Officials did not say how they were able to identify Dion as a suspect in all the vandalism crimes.
Gascón said if Dion is convicted of all the charges against him, he could face a maximum of 20 years in state prison.
