Hundreds gather for vigil near California synagogue targeted in murderous attack
Leaders ask community members to do acts of kindness to remember Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, a longtime member of Chabad Poway who was killed in Saturday’s shooting
Hundreds of people gathered Sunday night at a park for a vigil to honor the victims of an attack on a nearby synagogue the day before.
People at the community park near Chabad synagogue in Poway held candles and listened to prayers in Hebrew.
Leaders asked community members to do acts of kindness to remember Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, a longtime member of the synagogue who was killed in Saturday’s attack.
Mayor Steve Vaus said he would stand with the community, and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was shot in the attack, said seeing the crowd come together provided consolation.
“What happened to us, happened to all of us,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein, 8-year-old Noya Dahan and her 34-year-old uncle, Almog Peretz were injured when a gunman burst into the synagogue and opening fire as about 100 people were worshiping inside.
Police identified the shooter as John Earnest, 19, who had posted angry anti-Jewish remarks online just before the shooting and claimed he was behind the arson of a mosque in the area weeks earlier.
According to San Diego County Sheriff’s Department records, Earnest faces one charge of murder and three of attempted murder, and will appear before a judge to be formally indicted on May 1.
Coming six months to the day after a white supremacist shot dead 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the attack raised new questions about a nationwide rise in anti-Semitism and in hate crimes generally — and about US President Donald Trump’s often controversial response to them.
Human rights groups say recent years have seen the biggest rise in anti-Semitic incidents in decades while some critics say Trump’s rhetoric has played a part.
