Suspect, 19, arrested after gunman kills one person, injures three others at a synagogue in California.
3 people injured as 19-year-old held in Passover attack
POWAY, Calif. — A 19year-old gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle walked into a suburban San Diego synagogue and opened fire on the congregation Saturday, killing one person and injuring three others in an attack that authorities believe was motivated by hate.
The suspect was arrested in connection with the shooting, authorities said. The gunman entered the Chabad of Poway about 11:20 a.m. local time and started firing.
A large group of congregants had gathered behind the temple following the shooting, said sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Meleen. It was not clear how many people were attending services.
Some children were initially reported missing, he said, but they have been found. “As you can imagine, it was an extremely chaotic scene with people running everywhere when we got here,” Meleen said.
The attack came exactly six months after 11 people were killed by a gunman at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October.
The suspect fled in a car and called 911 shortly afterward to say he was involved in the shooting at Chabad of Poway, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit told reporters.
When an officer reached the man on a roadway, “the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody,” Nisleit said.
The suspect was later identified as John T. Earnest, a Rancho Penasquitos resident. He is being questioned by homicide detectives.
Earnest appears to have written a letter posted on the internet filled with antiSemitic screeds. In the letter, he also talked about planning the attack.
“How long did it take you to plan the attack? Four weeks. Four weeks ago, I decided I was doing this. Four weeks later, I did it.”
He wrote he was willing to sacrifice his future “for the sake of my people.”
Poway Mayor Steve Vaus called the attack a “hate crime,” based on statements the shooter was heard making as he entered the synagogue.
Witnesses said Rabbi Yisorel Goldstein was among the injured, reportedly shot in the hand. He apparently continued with his sermon after being shot, telling people to stay strong.
“The rabbi and two other people were injured,” said synagogue member Minoo Anvari, whose husband was inside when the shooting broke out. “One guy was shooting at everybody and cursing.”
“One message from all of us in our congregation is that we are standing together, we are getting stronger,” Anvari said. “Never again. You can’t break us. We are strong.”
“Why? The question is, why? People are praying.”
President Donald Trump offered condolences from the White House lawn Saturday.
“At this moment it looks like a hate crime,” he said. “My deepest sympathies to all of those affected. And we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Poway is about 25 miles northeast of San Diego
Several neighbors reported hearing the gunshots, and some were evacuated from nearby homes to the school temporarily as a precaution.
Cantor Caitlin Bromberg of Ner Tamid Synagogue, which is down the street from Chabad of Poway, said her congregation learned of the shooting at the end of their Passover services. Saturday marked the eighth and final day of Passover, a holiday that marks the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt and freedom from slavery.
Bromberg said her congregants were en route to Chabad of Poway to show support and help in any way that they can.
“We are horrified and upset and we want them to know we are thinking of them,” she said. “The message of the final day of Passover is to be looking forward to ... the time when all the world will be at peace.”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum said it was “shocked and alarmed” at the second armed attack on a synagogue in the U.S in six months, this time on the last day of Passover, which is one of the most sacred holidays in the Jewish faith.
The eight-day festival is typically observed with a number of rituals, including Seder meals, the removal of leavened products from the home and the sharing of the exodus story.
Saturday’s attack comes six months after a man with a history of posting antiSemitic and anti-immigrant social media messages opened fire at a temple in Pittsburgh, killing 11 people and wounding six more.
“This must stop. It was only six months ago to the day that we became members of that tragic club of community-based shootings to which no one wants to belong. We know firsthand the fear, anguish and healing process such an atrocity causes, and our hearts are with the afflicted San Diego families and their congregation . ... We send our love and prayers to the Chabbad families. These senseless acts of violence and prejudice must end,” Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, site of the October shooting that killed 11, in a statement.
The Anti-Defamation League called that incident “the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States” and it underscored growing hate against Jews.