Synagogue in California Attacked, Leaving One Dead

On Saturday, April 28, the last day of the Jewish Passover festival, a shooting occurred at a synagogue in Poway, Calif. which is being described as a possible hate crime. The attack left one person dead, with three others sustained injuries. A 19-year-old man is in custody following the shooting.

Poway, located just north of San Diego, is home to the Congregation Chabab where the attack took place. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus is labelling the attack a hate crime “because of statements that were made when the shooter entered.” San Diego County Sherriff subsequently released the identity of the shooter as John Earnest. The suspect fled the scene but later called 911 and released his location and surrendered without incident. He is now being questioned by detectives and by the FBI.

Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, has been identified as the victim who passed in the hospital due to her injuries. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein labeled her as one of his oldest friends and a founding member of the synagogue. Witnesses report that Kaye protected Rabbi Goldstein, taking the bullets the shooter meant for him herself. Rabbi Goldstein lost his index finger as he evacuated the children of the congregation. A 34-year-old man, Almong Peretz, was shot in the leg, as he too was escorting children to safety. Noya Dahan, an 8-year-old girl suffered a shrapnel wound. Rabbi Goldstein, Peretz, and Dahan are expected to recover from their injuries.

The attack on Poway occurs six months after the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, Pa. that killed 11 in the most fatal attack on Jews in American history. Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said on Saturday, “my words of ‘never again’ have disappeared from my language…They’ve been replaced with ‘yet again.’ And so it is that we stand here yet again at this corner as one united community.”

Rabbi Goldstein calls for unity and perseverance among the Jewish community after the attack on his synagogue saying, “this coming Saturday, I personally feel I want to appeal to all the Jewish people to make an effort to attend synagogue. We need to fill up those rooms, not run away from synagogue. On the contrary, let’s fill up the synagogues.”

President Trump has condemned the attack and has offered federal resources in the wake of the shooting, saying, “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.”

Likewise, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for international support of Jewish peoples in a statement that reads, “I condemn the abhorrent attack on a synagogue in California; this is an attack on the heart of the Jewish people…We send condolences to the family of Lori Gilbert-Kaye and our best wishes for a quick recovery to the wounded. The international community must step up the struggle against antisemitism.”