A shooting in a synagogue in California has left one person dead and three others injured, in an attack described as a hate crime by the city’s mayor.
The Chabad of Poway was worshipping on the final day of Passover when a man opened fire with an AR-type assault weapon at 11.30am local time, killing one woman and injuring three others, the authorities said.
Steve Vaus, the mayor of Poway, outside of San Diego, told MSNBC that members of the congregation had engaged the shooter and prevented further loss of life. “It was a hate crime and that will not stand,” he said. “This community will come together.”
David Nisleit, the chief of the San Diego police, said the suspect, described as a 19-year-old white man, called the police to report the shooting and that he had been pulled over by a highway patrol officer and surrendered, AP reported.
The attack comes six months after a shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh killed 11 people.
At a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday night, President Donald Trump said: “Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded, and stands in solidarity with the Jewish community. We forcefully condemn the evil of anti-Semitism and hate, which must be defeated.”
Kamala Harris, the senator from California who is a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, also condemned the attack.
“Yet again a place of worship is the target of senseless gun violence and hate. Anti-Semitism is real in this country and we must not be silent — enough is enough,” she said on Twitter.
