A federal judge sentenced Phoenix resident Eric Celaya, 30, to eight months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release for purchasing two firearms under his name and providing them to the shooter of two Jewish men in Los Angeles.
Authorities say Celaya had no prior criminal history and was not aware of the intentions or beliefs of Jamie Tran, the man he bought the firearms for.
Tran was prohibited from purchasing firearms due to previous mental health holds in 2023. In January of that year, he traveled to Phoenix, where he asked Celaya to buy two firearms for him. He paid him $1,500 in cash, according to authorities.
Tran bought the firearms intending to "kill Jews," authorities say.
On the morning of Feb. 15, 2023, Tran used the internet to research locations with a "kosher market." He drove to an area close to a synagogue and shot a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke—a small, brimless cap worn by Jewish people. Tran then fled the scene in his car.
The next morning, Tran returned to the same area and shot a second victim, a man also wearing a yarmulke, at close range before again fleeing the scene.
Both victims survived the attacks, and law enforcement arrested Tran on Feb. 17, 2023, after a witness reported seeing him firing a weapon behind a motel. When he was arrested, Tran told officers he was "practicing."
The offenses were charged as hate crimes, and Tran was sentenced to 35 years in prison in September. He had pleaded guilty in June to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"Targeting people for death based solely on their religious and ethnic background brings back memories of the darkest chapters in human history," said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California following Tran's sentencing. "Such hate-fueled violence has no place in America."
Text messages, emails, and other reports cited by an FBI affidavit show that Tran had a "history of antisemitic and threatening conduct."
In 2018, Tran left graduate school after making antisemitic comments about other students. His actions escalated to threats in 2022 when he emailed former classmates saying, "Someone is going to kill you, Jew," and "I want you dead, Jew." Tran described himself as a "ticking time bomb" and maintained social media accounts under the handle "k1llalljews." He also sent antisemitic propaganda via email blaming Jews for the "COVID agenda."
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