NoHo shooting raises security concerns

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Police Department increased patrols around Jewish facilities Thursday after a shooting in North Hollywood that injured two men.

Thursday's attack happened just 10 miles from a Jewish community center where a white supremacist went on a shooting spree a decade ago.

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Most Jewish facilities like synagogues and schools have security fences, cameras and in some cases, guards. It all started as a result of the shootings and killings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills.

There are five bullet holes at the door and garage of the school and synagogue where the two men were wounded Thursday morning. Police are viewing surveillance camera footage from the garage where the shootings took place.

Morris Barkey, the rabbi's brother, says that the synagogue cannot afford security guards.

"You know how it is, people forget after a while, it's like nothing happened. Today, the same thing happened now. People will go on with their lives without thinking about what possible danger might occur," said Barkey.

Rabbi Azoulay Avshalom from a nearby synagogue said that his car and his temple were defaced last week with anti-Semitic language.

"My car, somebody wrote, 'Hitler killed six million,'" said Avshalom. "Police came and after one day, two days, nothing."

Ten years ago, white supremacist Buford Furrow went into the North Valley Jewish Community Center and started shooting. Four children and a teacher were wounded, and a letter-carrier was killed.

Investigators warned people not to jump to conclusions that this is a hate crime.

Just a short distance from the synagogue, a nursery school stands well-guarded as a result of all the shootings.

"Part of our realities today, even in these tough economic times, is that every house of worship and educational institution and community center needs to take care of their own security on the ground," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper from the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Los Angeles has the second-largest Jewish population outside of Israel, so securing all facilities is a big job.

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