A woman has been killed and at least three people injured in a shooting during a service to mark the final day of Pesach at a synagogue in southern California.
Police in San Diego County said a man with a semi-automatic rifle had been detained for questioning after the shots were fired at Chabad of Poway at around 11.30am (7.30pm UK time).
Steve Vaus, the mayor of the city of Poway, told MSNBC that the suspect, a 19-year-old white man, entered the building and opened fire.
He said the rabbi, thought to be Yisroel Goldstein, was shot in the hand but, aside from the individual that died, that none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
“The rabbi and two other people were injured,” synagogue member Minoo Anvari, whose husband was inside when the shooting broke out, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“One guy was shooting at everybody and cursing.
“One message from all of us in our congregation is that we are standing together, we are getting stronger. Never again. You can’t break us. We are strong.”
A young girl and two adult men were reported to be among the wounded.
“We are grateful to those in the congregation there that engaged the shooter and prevented this from being a much more horrific incident,” Mr Vaus said.
A spokesperson for San Diego police told The Daily Beast website that they did not believe there were any other suspects in addition to the man in custody.
US President Donald Trump said his thoughts and prayers were with those affected, adding in a tweet: “Suspect apprehended.”
The suspect, who reportedly had earlier posted extremist literature to an internet forum, was stopped by an off-duty border patrol agent.
Sincerest THANK YOU to our great Border Patrol Agent who stopped the shooter at the Synagogue in Poway, California. He may have been off duty but his talents for Law Enforcement weren’t!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2019
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said the wounded were taken to the nearby Palomar Medical Centre.
The shooting occurred six months to the day since a gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on a Shabbat morning and killed eleven people,
A notice on the Chabad of Poway Facebook page had advertised a blessing and service for the last day of Passover for that morning.
London's mayor Sadiq Khan said his city “stands in solidarity” with the synagogue's congregation, while Marie van der Zyl, the presdent of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said she was “devastated" to hear the news.
Devastating to hear of another senseless, cowardly attack on innocent people at their place of worship. London stands in solidarity with the congregation of Chabad of Poway synagogue in California.https://t.co/9qQO7QPR3U
— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) April 27, 2019
Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said the shooting “must serve as a call to action for us as a society to deal once and for all with this hate.”
He continued: “People of all faiths should not have to live in fear of going to their house of worship.
“From Charleston to Pittsburgh to Oak Creek and from Christchurch to Sri Lanka, and now Poway, we need to say 'enough is enough.'
“Our leaders need to stand united against hate and address it both on social media and in our communities.”
