FATHER SUES OVER SECURITY AT CHABAD OF POWAY
Daughter was wounded in 2019 shooting that left one worshipper dead
The family of a young girl wounded when a gunman opened fire at Chabad of Poway in 2019, killing one and injuring three, is suing the synagogue and others, alleging negligence and lax security.
The civil suit, filed April 1 in San Diego Superior Court, alleges that the synagogue won a $150,000 federal grant to beef up security in anticipation of potential attacks, but failed to hire security guards or install enough fences and gates. It also alleges that on the day of the April 27, 2019 attack, the front doors were “propped wide open.”
Several people were at the synagogue for the last day of Passover when the gunman walked in and opened fire. Congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was killed. Three others were wounded — Noya Dahan, then 8, her uncle Almog Peretz, then 34, and the Chabad’s then rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 57 at the time.
Plaintiffs in the suit are Noya’s father Israel Dahan, and three children at the house of worship when the shooting started.
Defendants include Chabad of Poway, Chabad of California, Rabbi Simcha Backman — who oversees security grants for all 207 Chabad organizations across the state — and the alleged shooter, John Tim
othy Earnest.
The suit alleges negligence on the part of the organizations, and accuses Earnest of intentionally inflicting emotional distress as well as assault and battery.
Representatives for Backman and Earnest did not immediately respond for comment regarding the lawsuit.
Attorney Douglas Honig, who represents Chabad of California, said the incident at the synagogue was “terrible” and “an absolute tragedy.” However, he said his clients “do not in anyway control the security” of Chabad of Poway, which he said is a separate entity. He also said the legal premise behind the suit is wrong.
“The legal issue is
whether it was foreseeable,” he said. “You can’t foresee things that haven’t happened at that location before.”
An attorney for Chabad of Poway declined comment, citing the pending litigation.
According to the suit, Chabad of Poway applied for the security grant in about May 2018, fearing the synagogue was at risk of an antiSemitic or terrorist attack. They were tapped for the grant a few months later, but the first funds did not come in until about a month before the attack.
Earnest, who was arrested shortly after the shooting, remains jailed. He has pleaded not guilty in San Diego Superior Court to murder and other charges, as well as hate-crime allegations. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Now 21, Earnest was a 19year-old college nursing student and North County resident at the time of the shooting. He is also charged with arson, accused of setting fire to the Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in Escondido about a month before the synagogue shooting.
In a parallel prosecution, Earnest faces multiple charges in federal court related to hate crimes, obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Allegations of lax security are also the basis of a suit that shooting Peretz filed in late 2019. That suit remains pending.