• An extremist Jewish gunman was arrested in Miami on two counts of attempted murder after opening fire on a Jewish Israeli father & son, believing them to be Palestinians.
• Brafman, a married plumber, was taken into custody after he shot at the two individuals seventeen times.
A Jewish man is facing serious charges after allegedly opening fire on a vehicle in Miami Beach, believing the occupants to be “two Palestinians,” though they were later identified as a Jewish father and his son who were visiting from Israel, according to arrest documents.
Mordechai Brafman, 27, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder following the shooting on Saturday night.
Surveillance footage from around 9:30 p.m. showed Brafman’s truck traveling south on Pine Tree Drive before making a U-turn at 48th Street, where the victims’ vehicle was stopped in the left lane just north of the intersection. Brafman then pulled up in the right lane, stopped directly in front of the victims’ vehicle, exited his truck, and fired “17 times, unprovoked, striking both victims” as their vehicle passed him, the arrest documents state.
One victim was shot in the left shoulder, while the other sustained a bullet graze to the left forearm. The victims’ statements aligned with surveillance footage, and the documents confirm that neither the victims, Ari Rabey and his father nor Brafman knew each other prior to the shooting.
As of Sunday evening, Brafman later drove to an area near 4887 Pine Tree Dr., where he was taken into custody by responding officers at the Miami-Dade Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Centre following his arrest on two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
The 27-year-old, who is married and owns a condominium on Collins Avenue, told arresting officers he worked as a “plumber”. State corporate records list him as the authorised representative of White Collar Plumbing in North Miami-Dade.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged that Brafman be charged with a hate crime, which would elevate the severity of his offences.
At his attorney’s request, Brafman was not interviewed about the incident. However, while in custody, he reportedly made an unsolicited statement, saying that as he was driving, “he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both.”
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Ari Rabey promptly turned to Facebook to disseminate abhorrent racist, comments against Arabs, asserting that the incident constituted an act of antisemitism.
“Dear Jews,” he began and then explained that he was in Miami with his father.
“They tried to kill us for nationalistic reasons,” he wrote.
“My father and I went through an attempted murder on an anti-Semitic background.
“They tried to murder us in the heart of Miami, but God is with us, so it didn't work out for him. I want to say thank you to everyone for the support and that”.
“Am Yisrael Chai”
“Death to Arabs (followed by a prayer emoji)”
