Gainesville Man Indicted for Attempted Mass Shooting Targeting Jewish Victims

MIAMI – A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida has returned an indictment charging a Gainesville man with federal hate crime and firearm offenses for allegedly attempting a mass shooting targeting Jewish victims because of their race and religion. According to court records, Forrest Kendall Pemberton, 27, of Gainesville, armed himself with an AR-15-style rifle equipped with a silencer and traveled to the office of a non-profit organization dedicated to lobbying the U.S. government in support of Israel. On December 23, 2024, he allegedly attempted to carry out a mass shooting targeting the organization’s employees because they were Jewish. Pemberton is charged with attempted hate crime, using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, and possession of a short-barreled rifle. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on the attempted hate crime count, a mandatory consecutive sentence of up to 30 years’ imprisonment on the firearm count, and up to five years’ imprisonment on the possession count.