Florida man charged with attempted murder after shooting two men he thought were 'Palestinians'
Tallahassee, Feb 18 (AP): A Florida man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder after opening fire on two men in Miami Beach who he thought were Palestinians.
According to an arrest report, Mordechai Brafman shot at the men 17 times in the “unprovoked” attack, telling officers that while driving his truck, he “saw two Palestinians” and opened fire on their car, thinking he had killed the pair. But the men survived, one suffering a shot to the shoulder and the other grazed by a bullet.
Brafman, 27, is being held without bond on second-degree murder charges at a county jail in Miami, records show. He's also been ordered to stay away from the victims, an Israeli father and son who were vacationing in South Florida, according to the Miami Herald.
Brafman's attorney Dustin Tischler has said his client was experiencing a “severe mental health crisis” at the time of the shooting, which caused him to “fear for his life.”
“It is believed that his ability to make sound judgments was significantly compromised,” Tischler said in a statement to The Associated Press, adding that Brafman is seeking “necessary treatment” while cooperating with law enforcement.
The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, has called for federal hate crime charges against Brafman, saying his alleged bias against Palestinians should warrant the charges regardless of the victims' ethnicity.
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Shirtless protest: Court reserves order on Delhi Police plea for custody of arrested IYC workers
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court on Saturday reserved its order on police's plea seeking five-day custody of the four Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers, who were arrested for protesting at the AI Impact Summit venue a day ago.
The arrested IYC workers were produced before Judicial Magistrate Ravi, who reserved the order after completion of arguments.
The arrested protesters were Krishna Hari, national secretary of Youth Congress from Bihar; Kundan Yadav, IYC state secretary, Bihar; Ajay Kumar, IYC state president, Uttar Pradesh; and Narasimha Yadav from Telangana.
Delhi Police sought five-day custody of the arrested protesters, arguing that they raised anti-national slogans and wore T-shirts with objectionable images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The counsel for the accused argued that they were associated with a political party, and had exercised their democratic right to peaceful protest at Bharat Mandapam.
He said there was no footage proving that they attacked police officers, nor any evidence that an anti-national speech was made.
The court is expected to pass its order shortly.
