Second suspect arrested in L.A. antisemitic attack
CBSLA obtained cell phone video of a group of men attacking diners at a restaurant in the Beverly Grove neighborhood in Los Angeles, Calif. May 18, 2021 Courtesy of CBSLA
By Meghann Cuniff May 28, 2021
Two men have now been arrested in connection with what police say was an antisemitic attack on a group of Jewish men in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division took Samer Jayylusi into custody on May 25 in the Orange County city of Anaheim, though they say he lives in the city of Whittier.
Jayylusi is out of jail after posting $150,000 bond about 14 hours after his arrest, according to Los Angeles County online jail records.
Xavier James Pabon, 30, left jail on May 23 after posting $275,000 bond.
Pabon was arrested May 21 on assault with a deadly weapon and hate crime charges, three days after a group of men waving Palestinian flags attacked Jewish diners outside a restaurant in the Mid-City neighborhood of central Los Angeles.
Both men have yet to be formally charged in connection with the May 18 attack, but Los Angeles police said in a May 25 news release the case would be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office “for filing consideration in the upcoming days and detectives will be seeking additional charges for hate crimes.”
More arrests are also possible, as police say the investigation is ongoing and have urged anyone with information to contact the Wilshire Division.
Video of the attack shows a Jeep cruising by the restaurant with at least four men – one holding a Palestinian flag – shouting anti-Israel messages through a megaphone.
“You guys should be ashamed of yourselves,” one shouts in the direction of the diners. Someone also shouts, “Israel kills children.”
A voice coming from the sidewalk area can be heard yelling, “Fuck you!”
The video doesn’t show the men stop the Jeep, but it shows them and other men walking on the sidewalk near the outside tables when one man kicks someone to the ground. The group approaches another man who backs up and grabs a metal stand that helped rope off the dining area. He swings at the group and misses before a large man in a hooded black sweatshirt grabs it from him and pushes him to the ground.
The camera then pans to two men assaulting another man. They walk away about 10 seconds later, with one smashing something off a dining table as he leaves.
The brawl prompted Los Angeles city and interfaith leaders to denounce antisemitism in a May 20 press conference outside Los Angeles City Hall.
“It mirrors what we have done too many times together, when we have stood up against Islamophobia or racism,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
The Islamic Center of Southern California “unequivocally condemns the attacks,” said Hedab Tarifi.
“Violence of any and all sorts should be condemned, whether on the streets of Los Angeles or Jerusalem or Gaza,” Tarifi said, noting that the attack occurred in a “predominately Jewish area of Los Angeles.”
“Violence against Jewish bystanders on the streets of Los Angeles is not acceptable. It doesn’t further the Palestinian cause or any cause,” she continued.
Little is known about the suspects. Police say Pabon lives in Banning, which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Los Angeles. Police released few details about his arrest other than to say in a news re-lease that he was located “at a residence outside the city of Los Angeles with the assistance of Los Angeles and Inland Empire teams from the United States Marshal Service task force.”
Pabon has no criminal record in Los Angeles County, but Jayylusi has a pending felony domestic violence and child endangerment case in Los Angeles County Superior Court, stemming from a Dec. 5 arrest.
The arrest came just before more antisemitic attacks struck Los Angeles, when vandals threw bricks at Pat’s kosher restaurant and Young Israel of Century City in the Pico-Robertson district.
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