Following the drive-by airsoft gun shooting of a Californian Jewish home on Hanukkah, a 23-year-old suspect was arrested by the Redlands Police Department on Thursday.
Redlands resident Garrett Bailey Stater was charged with terrorizing and making terrorist threats in connection to the December 12 incident in which he fired several airsoft rounds from his vehicle at a home prominently decorated in celebration of Hanukkah. Two other people were detained and released after questioning, the police said on Facebook.
According to Jewish outlet Community News, the family said that it had returned home to find a car parked nearby. The driver allegedly verbally accosted the family as they entered their house, and a few minutes later, drove by the home, fired 20 rounds, and yelled “F*** the Jews.”
Police suspect airsoft handgun, not real firearm, used in shooting
No injuries or damage was reported. The police suspected that the weapon was an airsoft handgun, as no shell casings were found and there was no muzzle flash in home surveillance video. At Stater's home an airsoft gun allegedly used in the incident was recovered.
The family had believed the shot to be fired from a real firearm, telling Community News that they "survived an antisemitic drive-by shooting."
Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles Senior Director David Englin said at the time that the shooting was "another dangerous and despicable act of violence impacting the Jewish community in Southern California."