Teenage US gunman kills 1, injures 3 at S. California synagogue

A shooting at a US Synagogue near the southern California city of San Diego has left one person dead and three others wounded, local reports said, adding that a 19-year-old male suspect was caught by police.

News ID: 444528

Date: 28 April 2019 - 17:26

RNA - The Saturday morning incident took place at Chabad Synagogue in San Diego suburb of Poway on the final day of the week-long Jewish Passover holiday as the suspected teenage shooter walked into the place of worship and opened fire on people inside, reports said, citing San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore.

"This individual was with an AR-type assault weapon and opened fire on the people inside the synagogue," Gore added.

He, however, refused to release details about the suspected shooter or a possible motive, only noting that he is being interviewed by the police and the FBI.

This is while Poway Mayor Steve Vaus described the incident as a hate crime, telling news outlets that “it was a hate crime, and that will not stand."

According to the reports, authorities identified the suspect as John T. Earnest.

Four people who were shot were transported to hospitals and one of those, who Gore identified only as an older woman, died. A female juvenile and two adult men were at a hospital and were stable, he added, calling the incident a "senseless act of tragedy."

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump promptly reacted to the Synagogue shooting, telling reporters on the White House South Lawn, “My deepest sympathies go to the people that were affected, their families, their loved ones. Obviously it looks right now, based on my last conversations, it looks like a hate crime.”

Trump, however, has so far refused to condemn or express sympathy with victims of multiple bloody hate crimes against American Muslims and US-based mosques and Islamic centers.

The shooting at the Chabad synagogue came nearly six months after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in the major city of Pittsburgh in the northeastern state of Pennsylvania, during which the gunman – identified as 46-year-old Robert Bowers -- shot dead 11 people.

Local reports further cited Gore and San Diego Police Chief David Nislei as saying during a press conference that the suspected gunman was shot by an off-duty Border Patrol agent in the area as he attempted to flee from the synagogue and struck his car.

A San Diego police officer en route to the scene saw the suspect's vehicle and "the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up," Nislei said. As the suspect was being placed in custody, police "clearly saw a rifle sitting on the front passenger seat," he added.

847/940