12 May 2 • 2019
jn

A Day of 
A Day of 
Terror
Terror

A

round 11:30 a.m. April 27, six 
months after the horrific shoot-
ing at Tree of Life synagogue in 
Pittsburgh that killed 11 people, con-
gregants at Chabad of Poway near San 
Diego were celebrating 
the last day of Passover. 
Then, John Earnest, 19, 
armed with an AR-type 
assault weapon, walked 
in and began to shoot, 
according to Rabbi Yisroel 
Goldstein, who was shot 
in the hand and lost an 
index finger in the attack.
According to Goldstein’
s account, he 
said he heard a loud bang while he was 
preparing for a Yizkor service. He saw 
longtime member Lori Gilbert-Kaye 
on the lobby floor and then he saw the 
shooter. “Here is a young man standing 
with a rifle, pointing right at me. And 
I look at him. He had sunglasses on, I 
couldn’
t see his eyes; I couldn’
t see his 
soul,
” Goldstein said.
As more shots rang out, the rabbi 
lifted his hands in front of his face; the 
bullets striking his fingers. He said he 
rushed into the banquet hall, toward 
the children who were playing there, 
including his 4-year-old granddaughter. 
Bleeding, he screamed, “Get out, get 
out!”
Goldstein and congregant Almog 
Peretz tried to usher children to safety. 
Peretz was wounded in the leg by bullet 
shrapnel as was 8-year-old Noya Dahan, 
who was injured in her leg and on her 
face. Both are recovering at home. 
Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, died in the 
attack. She was attending the service to 
say Kaddish for her mother.
Then the shots stopped. Goldstein 
thinks the shooter’
s gun may have 
jammed.
Police say that congregant and U.S. 
Army and Navy veteran Oscar Stewart, 
51, ran to the synagogue lobby and tried 
to tackle Earnest, who fled the scene. 
Off-duty Border Patrol agent Jonathan 
Morales fired after the gunman as he 
fled the building, hitting Earnest’
s car.
Goldstein told CNN he had asked 

jews d
in 
the

HATRED STRIKES AGAIN

Synagogue shooting near 
San Diego kills 1 and injures 3.

continued on page 14
Chabad of Poway, near San Diego

Rabbi 
Goldstein

CHABAD OF POWAY WEBSITE/CHABADPOWAY.COM

STAFF REPORT

