A 19-year-old man armed with an assault-style rifle opened fire inside a synagogue near San Diego on Saturday, killing one woman inside and wounding three others in a “hate crime” on the last day of Passover. The suspect John Earnest 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 said. When an officer reached him on a roadway, “the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody,” Mr Nisleit said. The officer found an AR-type rifle in the front passenger seat. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus characterised the shooting as a “hate crime,” saying his assessment was based on statements uttered by the gunman when he entered the synagogue. US President Donald Trump said the country stood in solidarity with the Jewish community after the attack, which came exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.. “Tonight, America’s heart is with the victims of the horrific synagogue shooting in California, just happened,” he told supporters at a rally in Wisconsin. Thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by the shooting at the Synagogue in Poway, California. God bless you all. Suspect apprehended. Law enforcement did outstanding job. Thank you!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2019 “Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded and stands in solidarity with the Jewish community. We forcefully condemn the evil of anti-Semitism and hate which must be defeated.” Friends told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the woman killed in the shooting was Lori Kaye, 60, of Poway. Witnesses said she jumped in front of the synagogue’s founding rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, who was wounded in the index fingers on both hands, the newspaper reported. Others injured were Noya Dahan, 8, hit with shrapnel in the face and leg, and Almong Peretz, 34, who was shot in the leg as he ushered children in a playroom to safety, the Union-Tribune reported. Authorities say they were reviewing copies of the suspect’s social media posts. A San Diego Police officer keeps aim on the house thought to be the home of 19 year-old John T. Earnest, who is a suspect in the shooting of several people in a Poway synagogue Credit: AP San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said Earnest had no prior arrests. However, he said authorities were establishing the legitimacy of an anti-Semitic open letter he apparently published on a far-right message board hours before the attack. “We have copies of his social media posts and his open letter and we’ll be reviewing those to determine the legitimacy of it and how it plays in to the investigation,” he said. The manifesto is reportedly similar to one posted on the same message board by Brenton Tarrant, a white supremacist who was behind the March 15 mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, that left 50 people dead. The hate-filled letter lauds Tarrant’s actions and that of the Pittsburgh shooter and claims responsibility for a fire at a mosque in California a week after the Christchurch shootings. There was no known threat after Earnest was detained, but authorities boosted patrols at places of worship as a precaution, Mr Nisleit said. Neighbours and media members gather outside of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue Credit: AP An off-duty Border Patrol agent inside the synagogue in the city of Poway, just over 20 miles north of San Diego, opened fire as the shooter fled but didn’t hit him, Mr Gore said. Minoo Anvari told CNN that she’s a member of Chabad of Poway and her husband was inside during the shooting. She said he called to tell her the shooter was shouting and cursing and she called the shooting “unbelievable” in a peaceful and tight-knit community. “We are strong, we are united, they can’t break us,” she said. Christopher Folts, a nearby resident, said on CNN he heard six to seven gunshots, then a man yelling, followed by six to seven more shots. A car, allegedly used by the gunman who killed one at the Congregation Chabad synagogue in Poway, is pictured, few hundred feet from the Interstate 15 off-ramp north of San Diego Credit: Reuters Cantor Caitlin Bromberg of Ner Tamid Synagogue, down the street from the shooting scene, said her congregation learned of the shooting at the end of their Passover services and that they were heading to Chabad of Poway to show support and help. “We are horrified and upset, and we want them to know we are thinking of them,” Ms Bromberg told The Los Angeles Times, adding that she has not heard from Chabad of Poway leadership because they would not normally use the phone during the Sabbath. “They would only do that on emergency basis, if they do it at all,” Ms Bromberg told the newspaper. Passover began on April 19 and was ending on Saturday. In Pittsburgh, a truck driver who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews has been charged in the October 27 rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue. He’s pleaded not guilty. Saturday’s Passover violence followed a recent spate of deadly attacks on houses of worship around the world. Suicide bombings during Easter Sunday services at several churches in Sri Lanka killed more than 250 people. Weeks earlier a gunman who opened fire at two mosques in New Zealand left 49 people dead and more than 40 wounded, some as they knelt in prayer.
