Brandon Reisdorf

On April 23, 2016, at 2:24 a.m., Brandon Reisdorf hurtled a hammer through the window of the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles, then drove off. Investigation quickly revealed the attack constituted a calculated hate crime spawned by religious bigotry.

Prior to Brandon launching his assault, his mother, Lois, appeared on a biased and hate-filled ABC 20/20 feature that gratuitously attacked the Church of Scientology and its leadership. Reisdorf’s mother regularly posted to anti-Scientology hate sites while nurturing her son with her venom.

Reisdorf’s mother regularly posted to anti-Scientology hate sites while nurturing her son with her venom.

Instilled with his mother’s prejudice and driven to paranoid delusions, Reisdorf threatened to fire on anyone who might approach him from the Church. “…I will be legally packing heat (gun on waist)” he wrote in an email sent just hours before his attack, “and will defend my life by shooting anyone that attacks my properties, my family members, from you trespassing. All per the law.”

Two hours after committing his hate crime, Reisdorf demanded a payment of $70,000, threatening to send the leader of the religion “straight to hell if he doesn’t comply.”

After several months of investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department, Reisdorf was taken into custody and jailed on $50,000 bail. No one knows what might have happened had those witnessing Reisdorf’s hate-incited intent on violence not alerted law enforcement authorities of the distinct probability of a religious hate crime in the making.