Man who allegedly fired replica gun inside San Francisco synagogue faces rise in hate crimes following public comments

CNN
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A man arrested after allegedly shooting a replica gun multiple times at a San Francisco synagogue is now facing a hate crime, the city’s attorney said Wednesday.

The hate crime allegation against Dmitry Mishin, 51, relates to statements he made during the incident as well as social media posts he made involving “several posts from an individual wearing Nazi-like clothing,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said. in a press conference.

While officials have not shared what Mishin said inside the synagogue, prosecutors believe he “held anti-Semitic views and that was the motivation for his actions,” Jenkins said. The hate crime allegation will improve sentencing guidelines if found guilty, she added.

Mishin was arrested on Friday, days after he allegedly entered a Richmond District synagogue during a rally and ‘made a verbal statement’, pulled out what appeared to be a gun and fired several times inside. building, police said.

Police recovered spent shell casings from the scene and said at the time they believed he had fired blanks.

Mishin was charged Wednesday morning with two counts of “profession of threatening to obstruct the practice of religion” and six counts of disrupting a religious meeting and brandishing a replica firearm, the district attorney’s office said.

He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of all charges, according to Jenkins. CNN was unable to identify an attorney for Mishin.

“It’s clear that anti-Semitism is still active and strong even here in San Francisco, in such a diverse place, and that’s something that won’t be tolerated by this office or by me,” Jenkins said.

Mishin was originally scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday but will now be arraigned on Thursday, Jenkins said. His office will ask that he be held without bail, she added.

“Anyone who would walk into a synagogue like this, make the statements they made, and display what appeared to be a gun, is someone who poses a risk to public safety,” Jenkins said.

The San Francisco synagogue incident comes just days after a man allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at a New Jersey synagogue amid recent inflammatory anti-Semitic incidents including tweets by Kanye West, signs on a major Los Angeles bridge and messages projected onto buildings. in Florida.

The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism, which has tracked incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and assault in the United States since 1979, found 2,717 incidents of anti-Semitism in the United States in 2021, up significantly 34% over the previous year.