GUNMAN KILLS ONE AND INJURES THREE IN ATTACK ON SAN DIEGO SYNAGOGUE
▶ Man who phoned police saying he was responsible for the shooting will probably be charged with a hate crime
A gunman walked into a crowded San Diego synagogue on Saturday and fired an assault rifle at the congregation, killing one woman and wounding three other people.
It was the last day of Passover. The gunman killed Lori Kaye, 60, and injured Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, Noya Dahan, 8, and Almog Peretz, 34, authorities said.
Rabbi Goldstein, who was leading the service, was shot in the hand but carried on delivering his sermon, Audrey Jacobs, a friend of the killed woman, said on Facebook.
She said Kaye had been “taking bullets” for the rabbi to save his life. The two others hit in the shooting suffered shrapnel wounds.
The gun attack at the Congregation Chabad synagogue in the town of Poway, California, about 37 kilometres north of the San Diego city centre, took place six months to the day after 11 worshippers were killed and six others were wounded by a gunman who stormed a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
A man identified as John T Earnest, 19, fled the scene on Saturday by car and was arrested a short time later when he pulled over and surrendered to police, authorities said.
He had no previous contact with law enforcement and may be charged with a hate crime in addition to homicide, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said.
He is also being investigated in connection with an arson attack on a mosque in nearby Escondido, California, on March 24.
“Any time somebody goes into a house of worship and shoots the congregants, in my book, that’s a hate crime,” Poway Mayor Steve Vaus said.
There were indications an AR-type assault weapon might have malfunctioned after the gunman fired numerous rounds inside, Mr Gore said.
An off-duty Border Patrol agent working as a security guard fired at the gunman as he fled, missing him but striking his getaway vehicle.
Shortly after fleeing, the alleged gunman called 911 to report the shooting, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said.
A San Diego officer was on the way to the shooting scene when he overheard a radio dispatch “of a suspect who had called in to [California Highway Patrol] to report that he was just involved in this shooting and his location”, Mr Nisleit said.
When an officer reached him on a roadway, “the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody”.
He said the rifle believed to be the used in the shooting was found on the front passenger seat of the car. Authorities are reviewing copies of the man’s social media posts, including what Mr Gore described as a manifesto. Saturday’s Passover violence followed a recent spate of deadly attacks on houses of worship around the world.
Suicide bombings during Easter Sunday services at several churches in Sri Lanka killed more than 250 people.
Weeks earlier, a gunman fired a weapon into two mosques in New Zealand killing 49 people and wounding more than 40, some as they knelt in prayer.
Social media posts by a person identifying him or herself with the same name as the suspect in Poway had posted anti-Jewish remarks online an hour before the attack, and praised the suspects accused of the attacks in New Zealand last month and at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on October 27.
Local television channel KGTV 10News said the synagogue was hosting a holiday celebration beginning at 11am and due to culminate in a final Passover meal at 7pm.
Authorities said about 100 people were inside the synagogue, where Saturday services marking the Jewish Sabbath would have been under way or just concluded.
Mr Vaus, speaking from a police command centre, called Saturday’s shooting a “hate crime”, saying his assessment was based on statements made by the gunman when he entered the synagogue.
Minoo Anvari, an Iranian refugee who said her husband was attending services inside when gunshots were heard, said he called to tell her the gunman was shouting and cursing.
She called the shooting “unbelievable” in a peaceful and tight-knit community. “We are strong – you can’t break us,” Ms Anvari said.
Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, director of Chabad of San Diego County, said that “in the face of senseless hate we commit to live proudly as Jews in this glorious country. We strongly believe that love is exponentially more powerful than hate. We are deeply shaken by the loss of a true woman of valour, Lori Kaye, who lost her life solely for living as a Jew.”
President Donald Trump offered his sympathies, saying the shooting “looked like a hate crime”.
“Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded and stands in solitary with the Jewish community,” Mr Trump said at a rally in Wisconsin. “We forcefully condemn the evils of anti-Semitism and hate, which must be defeated.”
Governor of California Gavin Newsom said he joined the community in grief.
“No one should have to fear going to their place of worship, and no one should be targeted for practising the tenets of their faith,” he said.