The Synagogue Attack

Until a suspect is apprehended, only speculation can be offered into the shooting at a Los Angeles' area synagogue that left two men wounded. There was talk that the evidently unprovoked assault could be a hate crime- to me an odious notion in and of itself- could there be such a thing as a "love crime"? I am well aware of the existence of crimes of passion, crimes of greed, and even random crime and believe the perpetrators should be punished for what they did, not whatever idea was floating around in their heads at the time of the offense. In any event, if nothing was stolen, no attempt was made to pilfer, and no demands were made to hand over valuables, it is probably safe to assume that the shooting was indeed based on the religion of the victims. The felon should be prosecuted for what he did though, not for the hate that motivated the action.