A Florida man was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after shooting at a vehicle with two men inside who he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, local authorities said.
The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and booked on Sunday for the shooting on Saturday.
A police report shared by the Miami Beach Police Department showed that Brafman, when interviewed by police, said that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people he thought were Palestinian. He said that he then stopped, shot at and killed them, according to police.
However, the victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder and the other had a wounded forearm. They turned out to be Israeli visitors and not Palestinians, police said.
A representative or lawyer for Brafman could not be immediately identified by Reuters.
Human rights advocates say there has been a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate in the United States since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza following an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
