Suspect arrested in North Hollywood synagogue shooting

With the arrest of Christopher Littlejohn, 37, as a suspect, police may be a step closer in solving the shooting of two worshippers at a North Hollywood synagogue, although the likely motive remains murky.

The assault occurred last October early in the morning in the underground garage of Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Synagogue as Maor Ben-Nissan and Allen Lasry arrived for the early minyan. Both were shot in the knees by a lone gunman, who then fled.

Littlejohn, 37, was arrested previously in July for pointing a gun at a person in Beverly Hills, and rearrested last week in the synagogue shooting case. He is being held in lieu of $2 million bond.

Initial fears in the Jewish community were that the shooting pointed to a hate crime, but police quickly ruled this out, as well as terrorism, as motives.

In the months following the shooting, police hinted that the knee-capping of the two victims might have been the work of a local Israeli crime ring, after Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing of the Los Angeles Police Department was interviewed by the Jerusalem Post during a professional visit to Israel.

Downing, who heads the LAPD’s Counter–Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, was quoted as saying, “The shooting resembled a targeted surgical strike…the two men were targeted as part of a stern warning linked to a criminal organization.”

However, Downing later qualified the statement, saying he had been quoted out of context and that he had no evidence that organized crime was involved in the shooting.

In general, though, organized crime by Israelis in such areas as real estate, fraud, money laundering and narcotics is of growing concern to the LAPD.

In interviews with The Journal, Downing and Captain Greg Hall, who heads the LAPD Major Crimes division, said that such activities seem to be on the increase, though it is difficult to gauge their full extent.

“Israeli criminals in this city are very sophisticated,” Hall said. “We have to ask ourselves what else is going on that we don’t know about.”

Downing said that his bureau was working closely with the local Jewish community and Israeli police in trying to identify and contain local Israeli criminal elements.

Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Synagogue has a membership of some 150 families, primarily North African Jews, with a sprinkling of Latino, American and Israeli Jews.