A U.S. citizen from Somalia is facing hate-crime charges in Los Angeles after police said he tried to run over two Jewish men leaving their synagogue and shouted anti-Semitic slurs.

Mohamed Mohamed Abdi has been booked on assault with a deadly weapon charges and the allegation is being treated as a hate crime, according to KTLA.

LAPD deputy chief Horace Frank said the men, ages 37 and 57, were with a group outside after an event at Congregation Bais Yehuda when they saw Abdi yell out expletives about their Jewish heritage. The two kept their eyes on his car and walked away from their group, and they say he ran a red light, made a U-turn in his car, and then sped toward them.

The two men hid behind a traffic pole and an electric box, respectively, to get out of the way. Police said he tried to hit them again but crashed his car, and no one was injured. The men being attacked called the police and Abdi was arrested.

He had a knife in his car, and the vehicle was a rental. He is from Seattle, and he had only been in Los Angeles since last week, the Los Angles Times reports, leading to suspicion he was trying to commit a lone-wolf terror attack:

A native of Mogadishu in Somalia, Abdi is a U.S. citizen who emigrated to the Seattle area several years ago, Frank said. He rented a car and drove to Los Angeles sometime last week, though it was not clear if he knew anyone in the area or why he came to the city.

Investigators did not say if Abdi specifically targeted Congregation Bais Yehuda. A call to the synagogue seeking comment Monday was not returned, and the Seattle Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what, if any, history they had with Abdi.