POWAY, Calif. The rabbi wounded in the shooting at the Poway synagogue Saturday said the bloodshed could have been much worse had the gunmans weapon not jammed.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, speaking in an emotionally charged news conference Sunday in front of the Chabad of Poway, described the attack, which left one woman dead and he and two other people wounded.
He said the gunman opened fire, fatally wounding longtime congregant Lori Kaye, 60, and blowing off one of the rabbis fingers. Both of his hands were in bandages Sunday.
Goldstein said he feared the gunman, armed with a semiautomatic rifle, would enter another room where a large group was gathered for a memorial service or go out to where a group of children were playing.
But miraculously, the gun jammed, he said. At that point, an off-duty Border Patrol agent gave chase and fired on the gunman has he sped away in his car.
It could have been a blood bath, Goldstein said. I dont want to think of it.
The rabbi said he had previously asked the Border Patrol agent to come to the temple armed, hoping that would provide an extra measure of protection.
Authorities arrested the suspected shooter, John T. Earnest, who they believe was motivated by hate and, a month ago, may have tried to burn down a mosque in nearby Escondido. Investigators were checking the authenticity of an anti-Semitic screed the 19-year-old Rancho Penasquitos resident allegedly posted online before the 11:20 a.m. shooting.
The letter states a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of my people. The manifesto talks of planning the shooting, saying it was inspired by the gunmen who killed scores of people at a Pittsburgh synagogue and two New Zealand mosques.
How does a 19-year-old teenager have the audacity, the sickness, the hatred to publicize such anti-Semitism in his manifesto? How does he come here to a house of worship? the rabbi said.
During the news conference, Goldstein said Kaye was a close family friend who had recently attended his daughters wedding. Kaye was a former banker who helped Chabad of Poway finance construction of its campus.
Kaye had unconditional love for all, he said.
When the gunman fled, Goldstein said he saw Kaye lying on the floor, her husband trying to provide aid.
In my own interpretation, Lori took the bullet for all of us, Goldstein said.
Goldstein called the gunman a terrorist and said that he could not succeed.
