Los Angeles police have detained a man near a North Hollywood, CA synagogue where two people were shot.
A police spokeswoman said she was unaware if the arrest was related to the shooting.
At 6:20 a.m., an African-American man entered the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue with a handgun and shot two people in the legs. They were later transported to a local hospital where they are in stable condition.
Police have since told reporters that they are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
The last shooting incident involving a Jewish center in the United States took place in 2006, in Seattle, WA. A Pakistani-American man entered the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and opened fire, killing one and wounding five others.
While the number of anti-Semitic incidents nationwide has declined for four consecutive years, anti-Semitic hate crimes have increased by 21 percent in California with 226 incidents recorded in 2008 alone. According to the Anti-Defamation League, California currently ranks second in the United States for hate crime prevalence.
