San Francisco Synagogue Shooting: Dmitri Valery Mishin Charged with Felonies

A man suspected of firing a gun at a San Francisco synagogue has been charged with an alleged hate crime, prosecutors said Wednesday. San Francisco prosecutors said Dmitry Valery Mishin, 51, was charged with two counts of threatening to obstruct a religious practice and six counts of allegedly brandishing a replica firearm and disrupting a religious gathering.

In court documents, prosecutors argued that the intervention was a hate crime against Judaism. The police said that Mishin is suspected of having fired several blank rounds in a synagogue on the night of February 1 and fled the scene of the crime. No injuries or property have been reported.

The attack on the synagogue follows a recent incident in New Jersey in which a man is suspected of threw a Molotov cocktail at the front door of the synagogue.

According to an Anti-Defamation League survey released last month, anti-Semitic beliefs have exploded over the past three years. Almost 70% of respondents consider anti-Semitic tropes.

The day before the synagogue shooting, Mishin allegedly brandished a gun at a theater on the same street as the synagogue and then fled the scene, police said.