Saturday, April 27, 2019
Hateful Passover gunman opens fire on San Diego synagogue, killing 1 and wounding 3, including brave rabbi
A hate-filled teenage gunman opened fire Saturday in a crowded suburban San Diego synagogue, killing one person and wounding at least three others, including a rabbi, as worshipers prayed on the last day of Passover, police said.
John T. Earnest, 19, who apparently boasted of his racist views in an online manifesto, blasted an assault rifle inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue when the sanctuary was filled with about 100 congregants.
After his gun apparently jammed, Earnest fled. An off-duty Border Patrol agent working as a security guard opened fire but missed Earnest as he ran from the sanctuary and raced away in his car.
The alleged gunman was later pulled over by a San Diego sheriff’s deputy on a local highway and arrested, police said.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein — who grew up in Brooklyn and whose father was a cornerstone of the Chabad Hasidic sect in Crown Heights — was struck in the index fingers of both hands. Despite the wounds, he refused to end his Passover sermon, witnesses said.
“He continued his speech,” Minoo Anvari, a congregant whose husband was inside the synagogue, told CNN. “We are strong. We are united. They can’t break us.”
The woman killed in the shooting, Lori Kaye, 60, of Poway, was hit when she jumped in front of Goldstein, friends told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The others injured were Noya Dahan, 8, who was hit with shrapnel in the face and leg, and Almong Peretz, 34, who was shot in the leg as he led children in a playroom to safety, the newspaper said.
Law enforcement sources said Earnest claimed credit for a March arson attack on a southern California mosque at which graffiti praised the mass shooting by an Islamophobic gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand.
A rambling anti-Semitic screed written by an individual calling himself John Earnest was found posted to the online text-storage site Pastebin.com and the file-storage site Mediafire.com. Links to the content on both sources were posted on the Internet message board 8chan.
Earnest also reportedly planned to livestream the synagogue attack like the New Zealand killings, according to a post on 8chan. It’s not clear why he didn’t do so.
San Diego Sheriff William Gore said police were trying to authenticate the manifesto.
President Trump said the attack was believed to be a hate crime and offered his condolences to victims and others affected by the shooting.
“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Trump said, before shifting gears to promote a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
Mayor Steve Vaus of Poway, a suburb a 30-minute drive north of downtown San Diego, said the shooter’s own words indicated the attack was a hate crime, without elaborating.
“This is not Poway,” Vaus said. “We will get through this. Poway will stay strong."
Steve Arnold said he is a Reform Jew but Goldstein welcomed non-Orthodox Jewish people to the synagogue.
“They open their doors to everyone," he told CNN.
Goldstein has been a Jewish chaplain with the San Diego sheriff’s department, the same law enforcement agency called to investigate the shooting.
Authorities taped off the synagogue and set up a command post at a nearby elementary school.
Prayers are held at 10 a.m. each Saturday at the synagogue, which is affiliated with the Brooklyn-based Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement. There’s a children’s program at 11 a.m., according to the synagogue’s website, with a traditional meal to follow.
Some Jews also hold Passover Seder meals on the final day of the holiday, which celebrates freedom.
Witnesses said Goldstein was reciting the Yizkor prayer for Jews who have passed away when the gunman opened fire. That made the attack especially chilling to many.
“It’s a time when we should feel most safe,” Rabbi Josh Stanton told CNN.
The attack came exactly six months after a hate-filled gunman shot and killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
Jews in the Steel City wasted little time offering condolences to the victims of the latest outrage.
“Our hearts are in California as we continue to stand together against hate," Pittsburgh’s Rodef Shalom Congregation said in a Facebook post.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-san-diego-synagogue-shooting-20190427-fkpnnqectfbnnp3z5kgqj6bj4y-story.html
John T. Earnest, 19, who apparently boasted of his racist views in an online manifesto, blasted an assault rifle inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue when the sanctuary was filled with about 100 congregants.
After his gun apparently jammed, Earnest fled. An off-duty Border Patrol agent working as a security guard opened fire but missed Earnest as he ran from the sanctuary and raced away in his car.
The alleged gunman was later pulled over by a San Diego sheriff’s deputy on a local highway and arrested, police said.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein — who grew up in Brooklyn and whose father was a cornerstone of the Chabad Hasidic sect in Crown Heights — was struck in the index fingers of both hands. Despite the wounds, he refused to end his Passover sermon, witnesses said.
“He continued his speech,” Minoo Anvari, a congregant whose husband was inside the synagogue, told CNN. “We are strong. We are united. They can’t break us.”
The woman killed in the shooting, Lori Kaye, 60, of Poway, was hit when she jumped in front of Goldstein, friends told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The others injured were Noya Dahan, 8, who was hit with shrapnel in the face and leg, and Almong Peretz, 34, who was shot in the leg as he led children in a playroom to safety, the newspaper said.
Law enforcement sources said Earnest claimed credit for a March arson attack on a southern California mosque at which graffiti praised the mass shooting by an Islamophobic gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand.
A rambling anti-Semitic screed written by an individual calling himself John Earnest was found posted to the online text-storage site Pastebin.com and the file-storage site Mediafire.com. Links to the content on both sources were posted on the Internet message board 8chan.
Earnest also reportedly planned to livestream the synagogue attack like the New Zealand killings, according to a post on 8chan. It’s not clear why he didn’t do so.
San Diego Sheriff William Gore said police were trying to authenticate the manifesto.
President Trump said the attack was believed to be a hate crime and offered his condolences to victims and others affected by the shooting.
“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Trump said, before shifting gears to promote a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
Mayor Steve Vaus of Poway, a suburb a 30-minute drive north of downtown San Diego, said the shooter’s own words indicated the attack was a hate crime, without elaborating.
“This is not Poway,” Vaus said. “We will get through this. Poway will stay strong."
Steve Arnold said he is a Reform Jew but Goldstein welcomed non-Orthodox Jewish people to the synagogue.
“They open their doors to everyone," he told CNN.
Goldstein has been a Jewish chaplain with the San Diego sheriff’s department, the same law enforcement agency called to investigate the shooting.
Authorities taped off the synagogue and set up a command post at a nearby elementary school.
Prayers are held at 10 a.m. each Saturday at the synagogue, which is affiliated with the Brooklyn-based Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement. There’s a children’s program at 11 a.m., according to the synagogue’s website, with a traditional meal to follow.
Some Jews also hold Passover Seder meals on the final day of the holiday, which celebrates freedom.
Witnesses said Goldstein was reciting the Yizkor prayer for Jews who have passed away when the gunman opened fire. That made the attack especially chilling to many.
“It’s a time when we should feel most safe,” Rabbi Josh Stanton told CNN.
The attack came exactly six months after a hate-filled gunman shot and killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
Jews in the Steel City wasted little time offering condolences to the victims of the latest outrage.
“Our hearts are in California as we continue to stand together against hate," Pittsburgh’s Rodef Shalom Congregation said in a Facebook post.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-san-diego-synagogue-shooting-20190427-fkpnnqectfbnnp3z5kgqj6bj4y-story.html
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