A 19-year-old Florida man was arrested after authorities said he sprayed two Jewish pedestrians with liquid from a water gun in northeast Miami-Dade County, in what police are treating as a hate crime.
Amir Ayesh, of Plantation, Florida, is expected to face two felony counts of battery with prejudice, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office. The alleged incidents took place on May 9 in the area of Northeast 10th Avenue and 171st Street, in a neighborhood with a large Jewish population.
According to the sheriff’s office, two victims reported that a person in a black vehicle sprayed them with an unknown liquid. Detectives later identified Ayesh as the suspect after reviewing surveillance footage, CBS Miami reported.
An arrest warrant was obtained on June 11, and Ayesh was arrested on June 18 in Plantation by Broward Sheriff’s deputies with assistance from other law enforcement agencies, according to local reports. He was booked into the Broward County Correctional Center and released the following day, according to online records.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said Ayesh is expected to be charged with two counts of battery with prejudice, a hate-crime-related charge under Florida law. As of Friday, the charges had not yet appeared in Broward or Miami-Dade court records, the Miami Herald reported.
Under Florida law, offenses can be reclassified to a more serious degree when they show evidence of prejudice based on protected characteristics, including religion.
There have been similar incidents earlier this year
The arrest comes months after a similar case in Miami Beach. In February, two South Florida men were arrested after police said they targeted a Jewish man with a water gun in the Mid-Beach area.
In that case, Miami Beach police said the victim was standing near 41st Street and Collins Avenue with other visibly Jewish people when a black SUV pulled up. Police said at least one of the suspects shouted “Jews! Jews!” before spraying the victim with an unknown liquid from a water gun.
The suspects in that case, Michael Dean Emerson, 19, of Coral Springs, and Dominic Angelo Martinez, 18, of Tamarac, were each charged with battery with prejudice, according to Local 10.
The latest case comes amid heightened concern over antisemitic incidents in the United States. The Anti-Defamation League said earlier this month that 2025 was the third-highest year for antisemitic incidents since the organization began tracking them in 1979.
Miami-Dade County is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the United States. A 2024 Jewish community study found that there were approximately 130,100 Jewish residents in Miami-Dade County, accounting for about 5% of the county’s population.
Authorities asked anyone with information about the latest incident to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.