Image: Screenshot/ABC San Diego KGTV
The attacker, who killed a woman and injured three others on the last day of Passover at a southern California synagogue, posted messages against Jews.
A post also claimed setting a mosque on fire, according to social media posts and media reports.
John Earnest, a 19-year-old resident of San Diego, was captured two miles away from Chabad of Poway Synagogue after informing the police that he had carried the attack. According to authorities, Earnest used AR-style rifle during the shooting, which is being investigate as a possible homicide hate crime.
Several media accounts including the National Public Radio report that an online post by the same name contains anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim views, and also claimed setting a nearby mosque on fire last month.
The victim in the attack was identified as a 60-year-old woman, Lori Gilbert Kaye of Poway. According to witness accounts, as the shooting unfolded Kaye shielded synagogue’s founding rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein.
A woman was fatally shot and three others were injured in a shooting during a Passover celebration at a San Diego synagogue Saturday, officials said. https://t.co/3D0JHzJNJ8 pic.twitter.com/tIW13WWopG
— ABC News (@ABC) April 27, 2019
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports rabbi suffered gunshot wounds to his hands.
“We don’t condone threats and acts of violence against places of worship. We are a county that is welcoming of all faiths,” San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said.
A USA Today report said the gunman John T. Earnest, 19 is a nursing student at Cal State University San Marcos and that he had posted an online “manifesto” in which he criticized Jews and celebrated the shooting massacre of 50 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month.
President Trump offered his condolences.
“Tonight, America’s heart is with the victims of the horrific synagogue shooting in Poway, Calif., just now,” he said.
“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,” Trump added.
1 person was killed and 3 injured in a shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue, the authorities said.
The gunman, identified as a white 19-year-old man, used an AR-style weapon and opened fire inside the synagogue, the sheriff of San Diego County said: https://t.co/LD6SlrX93O pic.twitter.com/A0Ix0vVVBM
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 27, 2019
Authorities have increased security around synagogues and mosques following the attack.
Six months ago an attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh killed 11 people.
In comments quoted by the NPR, Sara Bloomfield, the Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, called it a call that antisemitism is growing.
“Moving forward this must serve as yet another wake-up call that antisemitism is a growing and deadly menace. The Holocaust is a reminder of the dangers of unchecked antisemitism and the way hate can infect a society. All Americans must unequivocally condemn it and confront it in wherever it appears.”
