A 19-year-old white supremacist murdered one and injured three at a synagogue in Poway, California but it could have been worse.
The shooter entered the synagogues on the last day of Passover and, judging by his manifesto, he wanted to murder many.
But his plan was thwarted by a heroic off duty Border Patrol agent who had his firearm on him and reacted to the situation, The Chicago Tribune reported.
An off-duty Border Patrol agent working as a security guard at the Chabad of Poway fired at the shooter as he fled, missing him but striking his getaway vehicle, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said.
The gunman, identified as John Earnest, used an AR-type assault weapon, Gore said. There were indications that the gun might have malfunctioned after firing numerous rounds inside the synagogue, the sheriff said.
Shortly after fleeing, Earnest called 911 to report the shooting, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said. When an officer reached the man on a roadway, “the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody,” Nisleit said.
A girl and two men were wounded as the Jewish congregation gathered for Passover, a weeklong commemoration of the deliverance of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The three were in stable condition, authorities said.
More on the shooting.
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A gunman opened fire in a San Diego-area synagogue on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding several others in a hate crime carried out on the last day of Passover, authorities said.
The gun violence at the Congregation Chabad synagogue in the town of Poway, California, about 23 miles (37 km) north of downtown San Diego, unfolded six months to the day after 11 worshippers were killed and six others were wounded by a gunman who stormed a synagogue in Pittsburgh yelling, “All Jews must die.” The assailant in that incident was arrested.
Details of the shooting on Saturday near San Diego and the full extent of casualties were not immediately clear.
Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, speaking from a police command center, told CNN that one person was confirmed dead in an attack that he described as a “hate crime,” saying his assessment was based on statements uttered by the gunman when he entered the synagogue.
A Palomar Medical Center spokesman, Derryl Acosta, told Reuters: “We received four patients at about 12:30 p.m. They are in trauma.” He declined to give any details about their conditions, age or gender. “That’s all I can tell you,” he said.
It was not immediately clear whether one of the hospital patients accounted for the fatality reported by the mayor.
“There are injuries. This is a developing situation,” the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a message posted on Twitter from its station in Poway, a city of about 50,000 residents, shortly after the shooting occurred.
Local channel KGTV 10News said at least four victims were transported to hospitals from the synagogue, which was hosting a holiday celebration beginning at 11 a.m. and due to culminate in a final Passover meal at 7 p.m., according to its website.
San Diego television station KGTV reported a woman whose husband was still inside the synagogue as saying the victims included the rabbi, another woman and the gunman himself.
Minoo Anvari, an Iranian refugee whose husband was attending services inside when gunshots rang out, told KUSI-TV the wounded included a female friend and the rabbi, who was shot in the hand. “We are united. You can’t break us. We are in the U.S.,” Anvari told KUSI.
A man who lives nearby, Christopher Folts, said on CNN he heard six to seven gunshots, then a man yelling, followed by six to seven more shots.
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,” Bromberg told The Los Angeles Times, adding that she has not heard from Chabad of Poway 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,” Bromberg told the newspaper.
Police described the suspect as a white male with an AR15.
Poway mayor tells @MSNBC that he believes the California synagogue shooting is a hate crime. https://t.co/cFrkrqPo9p
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 27, 2019
With the shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue today, remember that The New York Times promoted anti-Semitism this week and refused to apologize for it. pic.twitter.com/GFhiTKr4hZ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 27, 2019
There was a shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California.
Several are injured & the shooter is detained.
Just as the bombings in Sri Lanka during Easter were an attack on Christianity, this shooting during a Passover celebration is an attack on Judaism.
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) April 27, 2019
Deputies have detained a man following a shooting at a Poway, California, synagogue Saturday morning. There were “several victims with varying injuries,” according to San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Aaron Meleen. https://t.co/6Bt0hqDjsA
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) April 27, 2019
Reuters contributed to this report.
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