51-year-old Dmitri Mishin is accused of firing shots in an Outer Richmond synagogue last week — and while the shots were blanks, his disturbing social media posts have synagogue leaders calling for hate crime charges.
It was last Wednesday night that a man allegedly walked into a synagogue and fired gunshots at the ceiling during a study session, and then reportedly brandished his gun at Balboa Theatre some 45 minutes later. Police determined the shots he fired were blanks, but still arrested 51-year-old suspect Dmitri Mishin late Friday afternoon. As more details emerge on Mishin, including highly problematic social media posts, KGO reports that the synagogue’s leaders are now calling for hate crime charges against Mishin.
How problematic are the social media posts? The Jewish News of Northern California found posts of what appears to be Mishin wearing a full Nazi military uniform.
"We want hate crime charges," Alon Chanukov, the junior rabbi at the Schneerson Center where the incident took place, tells KGO. "When they actually charge him officially, we hope that is what he is on trial for, and that is what he is accused of."
The Jewish News of Northern California dug through a number of Mishin’s other social media posts. “A plethora of posts celebrated Nazism, including photos of a man who looks like Mishin wearing Nazi military uniform,” the publication reports. “One showed what appears to be blood on his face and in another the man holds an explosive. The account also had a photo of Nazi-era propaganda showing a caricature of a Jew, with the words (in German) ‘Danger — Jew!’”
Rabbi Chanukov adds that SFPD told him that Mishin “lives five blocks away from our synagogue,” and added, “If all he gets is a slap on the wrist, maybe a few months in a correctional facility — at a certain point I lack the belief in a short-term solution.”
According to SF County Jail records, Mishin is still in custody. An SFPD press release lists his current charges as disturbing a religious assembly, brandishing an imitation firearm , and causing another to refrain from engaging in a religious service. According to KGO, DA Brooke Jenkins says her office will determine whether to charge Mishin further on Tuesday.
Related: Suspect Arrested in Connection with SF Synagogue Shooting, Police Say [SFist]
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