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The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department released the following:
Sheriff Bill Gore would like to update the public with the following information.
Detectives from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department along with members of several local, state and federal agencies have been working throughout the night, interviewing approximately 100 people who were victims and witnesses to the shooting that occurred at the Chabad of Poway.
Detectives also served several search warrants and processed the crime scene at the synagogue, as well as the suspect’s residence in San Diego and his vehicle. The investigation is continuing as detectives process evidence and interview additional witnesses.
The suspect, 19-year-old John T. Earnest, was booked into custody on one count of murder in the first degree and three counts of attempted murder in the first degree. There is no indication at this point in the investigation that Earnest was part of an organized group. We believe he acted alone and without outside support in carrying out the attack. We are continuing to explore every investigative avenue to bring out all the facts in the case.
The Sheriff’s Department would like to acknowledge another act of courage that occurred at the synagogue yesterday. Oscar Stewart, who is fifty-one-years-old and resides in Rancho Bernardo, rushed at the shooting suspect, chasing after the suspect as he fled the synagogue to a vehicle parked nearby. Mr. Stewart caught up to the vehicle as the suspect was about to drive away. While Mr. Stewart was near the vehicle, an off-duty Border Patrol Agent caught up to the vehicle and yelled for Mr. Stewart to get out of the way. The Border Patrol Agent then fired a weapon in the suspect’s direction striking the vehicle as it drove away. Mr. Stewart risked his life to stop the shooter and saved lives in the process.
The Sheriff’s Department continues to express its sincerest condolences to those affected by yesterday’s crime. Our hearts go out to those going through this difficult time.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, leader of Congregation Chabad, gave an emotional account of his encounter with the shooter.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Goldstein said he came face-to-face with the shooter in the lobby of his synagogue, saying he saw “a young man standing with a rifle, pointing right at me.”
Goldstein was shot in the hands, losing an index finger in the attack.
Goldstein said off-duty Border Patrol agent Jonathan Morales, as well as former soldier Oscar Stewart, tried to tackle the gunman when his gun jammed.
The gunman was able to run away, got into his car and fled the scene.
Goldstein said Morales had recently discovered his Jewish roots and traveled 3 ½ hours from El Centro, California, to pray with the congregation on Passover. The rabbi had previously told Morales to arm himself when he comes to their congregation, saying he told Morales, “we never know when we will need it.”
Goldstein choked up as he talked about his friend Lori Kaye, who died in Saturday’s shooting. “She died to protect all of us,” he said. “She didn’t deserve to die right in front of my eyes.”
Goldstein recalled grabbing a prayer shawl to wrap his arm and bleeding fingers. He said he saw his congregation outside and felt compelled to do something, so he stood on a chair and declared:
Watch the emotional press conference here.
Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report
A person by the username Cam N has started a GoFundMe campaign to collect donations for victims of the synagogue shooting.
According to the description on the page, the funds will go directly to the Chabad of Poway.
“These donations would be used to pay for for any necessary medical operations for the victims, funeral services, synagogue reparations or anything else the synagogue would need assistance with,” the description reads. “With your help, we can get the victims the help they need. Thank you.”
The person who started the campaign wrote on the page that while they don’t worship at the synagogue in Poway, seeing an attack on a place of worship horrified them and motivated them to start the campaign.
The page for the campaign can be found here.
The father of Almog Peretz, who was wounded in the synagogue shooting, said he never believed something like this could happen to his family in the United States.
Aharon Peretz, who lives in Israel, heard about the shooting on Saturday evening after the end of Sabbath. He tried to call his son, Almog, and his daughter, Eden Dahan, who attend the Chabad synagogue, but he says their phones were off because it was still the Sabbath in the US.
“My wife and I were very afraid,” Peretz told CNN’s Oren Liebermann. “We started to run to figure out how to get ahold of them.”
Peretz was eventually able to get in touch with a neighbor in California, who told him his son and granddaughter had been lightly injured in the shooting.
He said his children left Israel to escape regional violence.
“The children always said, ‘Let’s leave, Let’s leave.’ But my wife and I stayed here, and they left for the United States,” Peretz explained.
“The fact that violence still found them in the US is “unbelievable,” he added.
Still, Peretz was happy to hear about how his son rushed children out of an emergency exit to safety during the shooting.
“My son is a hero — truly a hero. I know him — he’s a serious man. He saved the kids. All the best to him,” said Peretz. “It’s good that he saved young children when someone came to kill them. He cared for them and saved them and put them in a place where they can be safe.”
Irena Slovskayah, who was at an anti-hate rally in Long Beach on Sunday, told CNN’s Paul Vercammen she was horrified by the synagogue shooting in Poway and by anti-Semitic rhetoric in the US.
“I just feel unsafe,” she said. “I feel unsafe with the rhetoric and people keep asking me if I’m Jewish, and I don’t understand why that’s even relevant.”
Slovskayah added that the shooting has made her afraid to attend synagogue.
“I go to synagogues. What if there’s another attack? So I just fear, maybe I should stop going to synagogues. Maybe I should keep my Jewish heritage quiet. I just think I have to protect myself. Maybe I should carry a weapon because I am fearful for my life,” she said.
All the victims from the shooting at Congregation Chabad synagogue on Saturday have been discharged from Palomar Health in San Diego County, a hospital spokesperson says.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein will be holding a press conference at the synagogue today at 5 p.m. EST.
Shimon Abitbul is visiting the US from Israel and was at Congregation Chabad in Poway during Saturday’s shooting. He talked to CNN’s Nick Watt about the experience.
Abitbul said he first tried to protect his grandson from the shooter by lying on top of the child. Once he heard a pause in the gunfire, he took his grandson and ran away from the synagogue and into the neighborhood. Abitbul’s granddaughter was being led to safety by Almog Peretz, who then got shot in the leg.
According to Abitbul, his grandchildren didn’t understand what was going on. They thought they were playing, and there wasn’t a real shooting.
Abitbul also described the heart-wrenching moments when Lori Kaye’s husband, who is a doctor, tried to save her life. Abitdul, who is a paramedic in Israel, said they saw a hole in her chest and tried to perform CPR on her. Kaye ultimately died.
CNN spoke with Zach Keele, the pastor at Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church, where the 19-year-old synagogue shooting suspect John Earnest attended.
Keele said that Earnest was a member of the church for most of his life, but he didn’t participate in any youth or Sunday school activities. The pastor condemned the shooting.
“We completely deplore what he did,” Keele said. “It is not part of our beliefs, our practices, our teachings in any way. Our hearts, our prayers, our tears go out to the victims. To all those wonderful neighbors at the synagogue, we pray for them.
Keele said the shooting came as surprise to the community.
“We believe in lifting high the love of Christ to all people – men, women, old and young from every tribe and denomination,” he said. “This is a complete surprise. He was quiet, kept to himself, sweet guy. We had no idea. This a surprise to all of us.”
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who leads Congregation Chabad and was injured in Saturday’s attack, spoke to CNN’s Brian Stelter about what it was like to escape death, losing a friend and anti-Semitism.
On surviving the tragedy:
On Lori Kaye, the woman who was killed:
On attacks targeting Jewish people:
On his reflections after the shooting:
On how to combat the darkness:
On his message to his congregation:
On turning pain into something positive:
Watch part of the interview here:
Almog Peretz, one of three people wounded in Saturday’s shooting at Congregation Chabad, spoke with CNN’s Oren Liebermann about the attack.
Peretz, who is visiting San Diego from Israel, said he was shot in the leg, where the bullet is still lodged. Doctors are evaluating whether to removed it.
“Thank God I am slowly, slowly improving,” he said.
Peretz was in the synagogue with his family and was taking a friend’s daughter to the dining room when the shooter entered the building, he said. He said he heard a gunshot, turned around to look and saw the shooter standing in the lobby.
Peretz said he was across the synagogue from the shooter and did not see anyone else shot. He saw the shooter “line him up, almost like he had a sniper, and aimed, and started shooting.”
That’s when Peretz believes he was shot. Peretz said he ran to an emergency exit door and told nearby children to follow him. Peretz took the kids next door to the rabbi’s home. He then returned to the synagogue to search for a niece who was missing. She was later found hiding in the bathroom in the synagogue, he said. By the time Peretz returned to the synagogue, the shooter was gone, he added.
One of Peretz’s other nieces, 9-year-old Noya Dahan, was injured by shrapnel but has since been released from the hospital, he said.
Lori Kaye, 60, was fatally shot at the synagogue when she jumped between the shooter and the rabbi.
She had attended services Saturday to say a Kaddish prayer for her mother, who died in November, a friend said.
Three people were also injured in the shooting:
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 57, had been shot in the hand when Kaye stepped between him and the gunman. The rabbi suffered what looked like defensive wounds to both of his index fingers, a doctor at the Palomar Medical Center said.
Noya Dahan, 9, was at the synagogue with her two sisters and was injured by shrapnel, her father said.
Almog Peretz, 34, was injured by shrapnel while trying to protect his niece, the girl’s father said. He was visiting from Israel for Passover and was attending Saturday service with his family when the shooting happened, a congregation member said.
Safety discussions after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh six months ago likely saved lives on Saturday, Mayor Steve Vaus told CNN’s Nick Watt.
“Just a few days after the Tree of Life Massacre in Pittsburgh we came together here with the Rabbi and his congregants … and not only memorialized the victims of Pittsburgh but we talked about how to minimize future tragedies,” Vaus said.
“And I have no doubt that saved lives yesterday.”
Vaus also commended the courage of the congregants.
“I heard a story about a man that whisked children out to safety. Others covered their fellow congregants with their own bodies. That’s the community of Poway that I want the world to know about,” he said.
Vaus described the Poway community as multi-religious, noting that the city had a synagogue, a Greek Orthodox church and a Presbyterian church.
“This is a community that – faith binds us together,” he said.
The European Jewish Congress condemned the shooting at the Congregation Chabad, calling it “a very worrying trend in antisemitism in the US.”
“This, coupled with the horrifically antisemitic caricature in the New York Times over the weekend and the repeated attempts by local political leaders to diminish, belittle and even in some instances, justify antisemitism, means that sadly the U.S. is moving towards European levels of antisemitism,” EJC president Moshe Kantor said in a statement.
Kantor was referring to a cartoon that ran in the international print edition of The New York Times on Thursday. Times opinion editors apologized for the cartoon on Twitter, saying it included anti-Semitic tropes and was offensive.
“We call on all leaders of the world to take the fight against antisemitism more seriously and clamp down on those who spread hate because eventually it becomes a problem for society as a whole.”
The 19-year-old accused of opening fire at a synagogue in California has been booked into San Diego Central Jail on one count of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder, according to the San Diego Sheriff’s Inmate Website.
The suspect, John Earnest, was booked into jail early Sunday, according to the website. The site also says that he is scheduled for arraignment on May 1 at 1:30 p.m. PST.
The suspect in the California synagogue shooting acted alone, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said.
“The Sheriff’s Department would like to assure our communities that there are no known threats to religious gatherings,” the department said in a statement. “We encourage our communities to continue with scheduled events and other activities as normal.”
Authorities are encouraging anyone with information about potential threats to report them to law enforcement.
Suspect John Earnest is a California State University San Marcos student, the university’s president said.
President Karen S. Hayness said in a letter to students and staff that the university is working with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department “to assist and gain more information” on Earnest.
The 57-year-old rabbi at Congregation Chabad in Poway suffered what looked like defensive wounds to both of his index fingers during the shooting.
“He will likely lose his right index finger,” said Dr. Michael Katz, a trauma surgeon at Palomar Medical Center Poway.
Katz said the hospital received four patients from the shooting. One of them, a 60-year-old woman, died at the hospital.
The two other victims, a 34-year-old man and a girl, had shrapnel injuries. The girl, whose age was not given, was wounded in one leg and in the face. She was transferred to a children’s hospital and will be monitored overnight.
Authorities are aware of an open letter posted online by the 19-year-old suspect identified as John Earnest in the San Diego-area synagogue shooting, Sheriff Bill Gore said in a press conference.
Gore said they are “collecting digital evidence” and are in the process of reviewing the online content “to determine its validity and authenticity.”
CNN has read through an open letter posted to the anonymous message board 8chan before the shooting at Congregation Chabad synagogue in Poway on Saturday morning. In the open letter, someone identifying as 19-year-old John Earnest references killing Jewish people without making actual reference to Poway or the synagogue involved in the shooting.
In the open letter, Earnest talks about planning the attack and references other attacks on houses of worship, including the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh as well the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. Earnest also talks about his disdain for Jews and claims responsibility for a mosque fire in Escondido a week and a half after the attacks in Christchurch.
According to a flyer released by Escondido Police Department, authorities are investigating an arson incident that took place at the Islamic Center of Escondido on March 24. San Diego Sheriff’s Department is also investigating whether Earnest was involved in the arson attack.
The open letter is structured in a similar fashion to the manifesto linked to Christchurch attack suspect Brenton Tarrant, replete with a question-and-answer section in which Earnest answers general questions about his character, political affiliation and motivation for carrying out the alleged shooting.
Poway Mayor Steve Vaus said worshippers at the San Diego-area synagogue had learned safety protocols and learn how to respond during a shooting when police and local officials visited the synagogue last month.
Vaus said President Donald Trump called him to offer his condolences following the shooting. In addition, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto also reached out to express his sorrow and noted that it was only six months ago that his city suffered a similar attack, Vaus said.
