Synagogue victim shot as she tried to save rabbi
A SYNAGOGUE’S founder was killed in a hail of bullets as she shielded its rabbi during a teenage gunman’s rampage, it was revealed yesterday.
Lori Kaye, 60, was shot at the synagogue near San Diego, California, that she helped build three decades ago, while an eightyear-old girl and her uncle were injured.
Witnesses said that during the shooting on Saturday morning, on the last day of the Jewish Passover holiday, she stepped in front of rabbi yisroel Goldstein when they were confronted by a man with an assault rifle. In the chaotic aftermath of the shooting, Mrs Kaye’s husband, who is medically trained, rushed inside to help only to pass out when he realised she had been seriously injured, it was claimed.
It is believed further bloodshed at the Congregation Chabad temple in Poway was prevented because the attacker’s weapon malfunctioned and he fled in a car, escaping an off-duty US Border Patrol agent who shot at him. A 19-year-old man, named locally as John Earnest, was arrested nearby after giving himself up.
Last night it was claimed Earnest is the author of a rambling hate-filled ‘manifesto’ published online, and was said to have been inspired by the murder of nearly 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand in March.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said the gunman has no previous convictions but the FBI is investigating whether he is responsible for an attempt to burn down a nearby mosque last month.
In an interview on US TV, Rabbi Goldstein said he feared for his life and suffered an injury to his hand. He said: ‘I was face-to-face with this murderer, terrorist, who was holding a rifle and looking straight at me. As soon as he saw me, he started to shoot toward me. My fingers got blown away.’
The attack took place six months to the day after 11 worshippers were killed and six wounded by a gunman who stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue.