Police are investigating San Diego synagogue shooting as a possible hate crime


Police have detained a San Diego man in connection with a shooting at a synagogue in nearby Poway, California, on Saturday. One person was killed as a result of the violence, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Three more people were injured, but they are reportedly all in stable condition in area hospitals.
Authorities identified the suspect as 19-year-old John Earnest, who alerted police to his own location during the shooting. Reports say a document posted online by someone with the same name contains anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric and also claims responsibility for setting fire to a nearby mosque in March. Police are reportedly investigating Earnest for that incident, as well.
Friends and congregation members identified 60-year-old Lori Gilbert Kaye as the woman who died during the shooting. Witnesses say that she jumped in front of the synagogue's founding rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, who was wounded in the index finger on both hands, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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