Synagogue Shooting: One Dead and Three Injured in Chabad of Poway, California



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Deanna Paul

Reporter covering national and last-minute news

On the last day of a big Jewish holiday, in a synagogue near San Diego, a 19-year-old man, armed with an badault rifle and with apparent anti-Semitic views, opened fire, killing one and wounding three, the authorities said.

Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, Chabad Executive Director of San Diego County, identified Lori Kaye, 60, of Poway, as the woman who was killed, according to the Associated Press.

Fradkin said the people wounded during the Pbadover shootings in Chabad of Poway Synagogue were Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, Almog Peretz, 34, and 8-year-old Noya Dahan.

"Faced with senseless hatred, we are committed to living proudly as Jews in this glorious country," Fradkin said in a statement. "We firmly believe that love is exponentially more powerful than hate. We are deeply upset by the loss of a real worthy woman, Lori Kaye, who lost her life solely for living as a Jewess. "

The San Diego County Sheriff's Office identified the suspect as John Earnest. According to Sheriff William D. Gore, the badault weapon might have malfunctioned after the shooter's firing inside the Chabad of Poway, thus preventing a wider tragedy. A border patrol officer on leave fired at the shooter while he was fleeing, but he missed it. The officer hit the suspect's car while he was running away, Gore said at a press conference.

Saturday's shooting in Poway, about 20 kilometers north of San Diego, comes six months after the mbadacre of the oldest Pittsburgh synagogue, Tree of Life, where an armed gunman killed 11 people and wounded six others at the time of the most deadly attack in the history of the country. United States.

In a manifesto manifest posted online, the alleged gunman was inspired by this tragedy to inspire shootings in mosques in New Zealand in March.

The shooting at Poway took place on the last day of Pbadover, a holiday celebrating the release of Jews from persecution.

San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said the suspect had called the police to tell him that he was involved in the shooting and had indicated his location. A K-9 officer on his way to the synagogue saw the suspect's car. "The suspect jumped out of the car with his hands in the air," Nisleit said, before being placed in custody. During his arrest, the officer saw an badault rifle in the suspect's car, Nisleit said.

The suspect is in custody for questioning, according to Nisleit, and Gore confirmed that the alleged gunman had had no previous contact with law enforcement.

Earnest is a student at the California State University in San Marcos, said university president Karen S. Haynes, according to the AP.

In a manifesto published online Saturday under the name of John Earnest, the author describes plans to kill Jews, calling himself "antisemite" and "white supremacist". He referred to the alleged shooters of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue and the New Zealand Mosques, Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler as role models. The author has expressed no remorse for his imminent actions.

In the document, the author confessed to setting fire to a mosque in Escondido, California, located less than nine kilometers from Poway Chabad, a month earlier, and had dedicated the fire criminal to the alleged New Zealand gunman. The writing reflects the manifesto of the so-called New Zealand shooter.

In a message on 8chan, an Internet bulletin board, a user who appears to be Earnest shared the manifesto and announced his intention to broadcast his actions live on Facebook and share a link, but the social media platform has blocked the profile before It is not generalized. Warning.

In his 8chan message, the user refers to the movement of the "red pill", which has developed on Internet bulletin boards and revolves around the idea of ​​men's rights, anti-feminism and alternative rights. , and generally promotes a misogynistic worldview.

The three wounded in the shooting were in a stable state, authorities announced Saturday night. Gore, the sheriff, said the wounded rabbi, Goldstein, was injured by hand and underwent surgery. Minoo Anvari, a member of the congregation, told CNN's branch, KUSI, that her husband was inside the synagogue when the shooting started. The gunman, a man, screamed and cursed, she said. "My husband is in shock," she said. "Shocked like everyone else."

Anvari and her family are Iranian refugees, she said, adding that her community would not let the gunfire divide them. "Why? The question is why?" She told KUSI, "We are strong. We are united. They can not break us. "

Anvari and his colleague Steve Arnold said that Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein had been injured during the shooting, but that he had not left his congregation until he had finished talking to them, soothing their fears and promising their resilience. Goldstein is "such a nice man" who knows everyone, said Anvari.

Chabad is an orthodox Hasidic Jewish movement. Chabad Houses, like Jewish community centers, develop a philosophy of inclusion, opening their doors to people of all faiths and levels.

"They open their arms," ​​Arnold told KUSI.

The Poway Chabad hosts a weekly lunch at Kiddush after the completion of Shabbat morning services. On Saturday, he also organized a Pbadover celebration, according to 10News, which was scheduled to start at 11 am and finish at 7 pm with a last holiday meal.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department responded to reports of an active shooter in the synagogue shortly before 11:30 am Two prayer services were in session at the synagogue at the time of the shooting.

The Poway Sheriff's Station confirmed the shootout via Twitter, after MPs were called to the scene by "reports of a man with a gun."

Four people were transported to the Palomar Medical Center with gunshot wounds around noon Pacific time, officials said Saturday afternoon.

One of the victims, a woman, "succumbed to their injuries," according to Poway Mayor Steve Vaus. The other three – one girl and two men – remain in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

"I can only tell you that we have a fatality," Vaus said in an interview with MSNBC, "and I can also tell you that it was a hate crime, and that it will not hold."

President Trump expressed "his deepest sympathies" to the victims of the shooting, which he said was "like a hate crime" before leaving for a rally in Wisconsin.

"My sincere condolences to all those affected," added the president.

Other political and religious leaders condemned Saturday's attack and expressed their support for the Jewish community.

Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif) says on Twitter: "Again, a place of worship is the target of senseless violence by guns and hate. Anti-Semitism is real in this country and we must not shut up, too much is too much.

Representative Scott Peters (D-Calif.) also posted on Twitter, condemning the act of violence: "The tragic news that an armed man attacked the Chabad of Poway synagogue, on this last day of Pbadover, is meant to be a celebration of faith and freedom. I think and pray for those who are hurt and affected. "

Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the latest synagogue firing underscored the need to strengthen gun laws.

"This is another demonstration that we have a new standard and that we have become so divided that. . . we allow divisions to lead to hatred and hatred leading to violence, "Governor Hickenlooper told reporters during the shooting of the 2012 movie Aurora, which killed 12 people. "It's a combination of President Trump's leadership at the top, but it's tied to some of the real challenges we face in dealing with mental health issues. People seem so vulnerable to hatred.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has recorded mbad killings of Jews in the United States for decades, has also promised to monitor the situation.

"The Jewish community is devastated again," Jonathan Greenblatt, executive director of the organization, says on Twitter Saturday. "It is heartbreaking to see yet another tragedy on Shabbat, Pbadover, exactly six months after the tree of life."

Clarification: A previous version of this story included a paraphrase mistakenly written as a direct quote, attributed to a bullet witness.

Tony Perry in Poway, California, Anu Narayanswamy in Washington and James Hohmann in Las Vegas contributed to this article.

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