Protected wife of a rabbi during a shooting in the synagogue

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A shooting in a synagogue outside San Diego, where worshipers celebrated the last day of Passover, sent four people to the hospital on Saturday, without specifying the extent of their injuries. , officials said. (April 27)
AP, AP

The woman killed in Saturday's Saturday shootings in San Diego was placed in front of bullets aimed at her long-time friend and rabbi as he ran to evacuate the children, according to his friends and authorities.

According to authorities, 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye was killed in Chabad of Poway when a nursing student opened fire with an anti-reflux rifle. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein received defensive wounds on his hands, but he survived the attack and then delivered a sermon to the congregated congregation before going to the hospital, said Audrey Jacobs, a friend , in a publication on Facebook.

Kaye leaves behind a husband and an adult daughter.

"Your last good action was taking bullets for Rabbi Mendel Goldstein to save his life," Jacobs wrote in a message that she said had been approved by other victims and their families. "Tragically, the rabbi always had a bullet in his hand and he gave a sermon inviting everyone to stay strong."

Kaye's husband, a doctor, was with her at the synagogue and rushed to help the victims, knowing that it was not about his wife, Dr. Roneet Lev. , a friend of the family, told the San Diego Union Tribune.

"God has chosen her to die and that she sends a message because she's such an incredible person," said Lev, director of emergency services at San Diego Scripps Mercy Hospital, at Union Tribune. "He took it for a higher purpose to send this message to fight against anti-Semitism."

Flowers and placards are placed in front of a memorial in front of Chabad of Poway Synagogue on April 28, 2019 in Poway, California. (Photo: Denis Poroy, AP)

Goldstein was in the banquet hall of the synagogue when he heard loud noises and became "face to face with this murderer, this terrorist" when he returned, he said at the time. a telephone interview granted on "Sunday TODAY" with Willie Geist ". Goldstein said he's putting his hands in the air to protect himself and loses one of his fingers in the shootout.

Goldstein said that Kaye was one of his oldest friends and one of the first supporters of Chabad of Poway. He said that he was in the banquet hall of the synagogue when he heard a loud noise and went back, thinking that Kaye had fallen.

"As soon as he saw me, he started pulling at me and that's when I raised my hands and my fingers were washed away by the wind, "he said TODAY. "Then he went on and killed Lori Kaye on the spot."

Noya Dahan, 8, and her uncle Almog Peretz, 34, who is visiting Israel, were also wounded, authorities said.

More: What we know about shooting the synagogue in California