Defense claims that the man accused of shooting the duo that he thought are Palestinians is incompetent to be judged

Miami Beach, Fla. – A man who is accused of shooting two people in Miami Beach, because he thought he “saw two Palestinians” appeared in court on Tuesday, where his lawyer claimed to be incompetent and should be evaluated.

Another hearing for Mordechai Brafman, 27, was set for March 10, when prosecutors can follow an improvement in hate crime on the accusations that Brafman is already facing.

“The hatred unit Sao examines each crime that has the potential to be motivated by hatred, to see if the status of Florida crime improvement is applicable to the specific situation,” said a Miami-State Prosecutor’s spokesman. Dade, in an email to 10 local news. “The Florida Legislature has adopted the approach to creating an improvement of the underlying criminal accusation in such a situation (ie an accusation of offense of 3 -offense is improved to a second charges of crime), rather than to appoint an offense. as a specific offense of hatred. This increases the severity of the punishment for an offense accused of conviction. So, from a technical point of view, there are no hate offenses in accordance with the Florida law, but has improved the sanctions on hatred offenses for such an action. “

The police said that the shooting in question took place around 9:30 pm on February 15 on Pine Tree Drive, right north of 48th Street.

According to an arrest report, Brafman was seen on a surveillance video driving south on Alton Road and then making a 48th urn, before driving next to the victim’s vehicle, which was on the left tape and stopping -directly in front of them in the right lane.

Police said Brafman got out of the car, but stayed on the driver’s side and waited for the victims’s car, pulling 17 fires as he did. They said one of the victims was shot in the shoulder, and the other was grazed on the arm.

According to the authorities, the shootings were unprobs, and the victims and Brafman did not know themselves.

Brafman was arrested shortly after shooting, when he was located further along the 4800 Pine Tree Drive block.

In his form of arrest, the police said that Brafman “said spontaneously that while he was driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed them both.”

The pair, who are a father and son – and who are actually Israeli – spoke to 10 local news a day after shooting.

“It was a truck that passed by (us),” said Ari Revay in Hebrew, with his cousin translated. “” Boom, boom, boom “and started at random.”

Revay added: “He put the window down, the driver’s seat and exploded (us).”

Revay’s father said Brafman tried to shoot them from behind his car.

The bullet “passed right next to (my ear) because (I) was the driver,” he said through his relative.

“Lord, life is a gift,” said Ari Revay, adding that he is “happy” and grateful to be still alive.

“I don’t know what he felt at that time,” he added.

Brafman is experiencing two accusations of second -degree attempted attempted.

Dustin Tischler, Brafman’s lawyer, told the local 10 News in a statement that his client “faces a severe mental health” at the time of shooting.

“It is believed that his ability to make solid judgments was significantly compromised,” the statement said. “We cooperate fully with law officials and recognize the severity of the accusations. We also hired ourselves to collaborate with medical professionals to ensure that Mr. Brafman receives adequate and necessary treatment. Most importantly, we are deeply relieved by the fact that the victims are outside the hospital and recover. “

There were scores of both anti-Semitic and anti-Palestinian hatred offenses, reported in the US and globally from October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

According to the latest statistics in US Department of Justicewhich are from 2023, 52.5% of US hate crimes are based on race/ethnicity/ancestors and 22.5% are based on religion.

Other statistics on US hate crimes may be found by clicking here.