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ONE PERSON HAS been killed and three others have been injured after a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a synagogue in California, US.
Those wounded included the rabbi – who had injuries to both index fingers – as well as a female minor and a man (34) who was injured by shrapnel, the San Diego County Sheriff said.
A 60-year-old woman died from her wounds.
The suspect was arrested after fleeing the scene and has been identified as 19-year-old John Earnest, who had no prior arrest record.
Earnest burst into the Chabad of Poway synagogue – where there were around 100 people – shortly after 11.20 am local time yesterday and opened fire with an assault weapon that appears to have malfunctioned, preventing him from inflicting more harm, the sheriff said.
An off-duty border patrol agent who was at the synagogue at the time of the shooting opened fire on the gunman as he was fleeing, striking his car but missing the suspect.
The man was eventually apprehended by a San Diego police officer who had been monitoring dispatch radio and raced to the scene.
“He clearly saw the suspect’s vehicle, the suspect jumped out with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody by the San Diego police department,” San Diego police chief David Nisleit said.
Hate-filled manifesto
Authorities examined Earnest’s social media activity and have established the authenticity of an anti-Semitic open letter he apparently published on a far-right message board hours before the attack, the sheriff said.
“We have copies of his social media posts and his open letter and we’ll be reviewing those to determine the legitimacy of it and how it plays into the investigation,” he said.
Los Angeles officials have said they were boosting patrols around synagogues and other places of worship in light of the attack.
Speaking at a rally, US President Donald Trump denounced the shooting as a “hate crime” and offered his support to the victims.
“Tonight, America’s heart is with the victims of the horrific synagogue shooting in California,” he told supporters.
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.
CNN / Twitter
CNN / Twitter / Twitter
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom also denounced the tragedy.
“While we continue to learn more about what transpired, we can’t ignore the circumstances around this horrific incident,” he said.
No one should have to fear going to their place of worship, and no one should be targeted for practicing the tenets of their faith.
Includes reporting by - © AFP 2019
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Here we go again. What is the world coming to. RIP that poor innocent woman.
Thoughts and prayers once again in the USA.
They refuse to deal with the awful gun problems they have and the almost daily mass shootings that occur.
Very sad situation, they will argue that it would have been worse had the off duty border agent not been armed. Cant see gun control tightening up there anytime soon unfortunately.
@Seamus Mac: it would have been better if the terrorist didn’t have a gun. Can see gun control tightening up enough people stop supporting guns.
@Kev: true, but the reality is Kev that there is a culture of gun ownership there & if you try to take guns off people it will stir up a lot more terrorists & militias.
@Kev:
You are 100% correct but there is no chance of it happening.
At this stage gun salesmen are delighted every time there is talk of gun control in America, their sales rocket up.
@Barry Somers: true but if they’re going to take guns out of legal owners hands they need to effectively take illegal guns off the streets which is a huge task. There’s such a engrained gun culture there among both criminals and the public that taking them away from the public won’t just solve the problem. Chicago is a good example. Its really hard to own a gun yet there’s a huge rate of gun crime committed using illegal handguns.
@sVRCsaSg: Yeah Yeah I suppose it’s far more severe being killed with an unlicensed gun! Makes a huge difference!
@John Mc Donagh: my point is that gun reform isn’t a magic wand that’s going to solve all the gun crime in America. In fact it won’t solve most of it. And in a country that’s so saturated with illegal guns legal guns are a way for people to protect themselves. And we don’t hear the stories of people protecting themselves nearly as much.
People seem to think that gun reform would turn americas gun culture and criminal scene into a European country but don’t consider that it might move it towards Mexico or Brazils.
@sVRCsaSg: You’re dead right, I was just being sarcastic!
2/3 million is the estimate of lives saved with defensive use of a gun. The method they go after guns is through falsehoods. here they use the word assault weapon, usually assault rifle or weapons of war. Literally means nothing. Assault weapon could mean anything, but it puts a lot of guns that look scary in one bracket when in fact they’re all usually semi automatics, automatics already being banned. Most gun deaths: suicide which is included in the high gun death total, most deaths are caused by hand guns, AR means armalite not assault rifle, states with high gun control and gun safe zones have the worst gun problems. Guns ain’t the problem. What gun laws would help. taking all the guns will never happen.
@sVRCsaSg: saturated with illegal guns? The problem is the legal hand guns shooting people who know each other. Check the statistics.
@John Flood: it turns out it’s surprisingly hard to find these stats. Could you please let me know where I might find them?
I did find this link however which shows that from a criminality perspective most weapons are purchased illegally. Although in the article it even says its hard to quantify.
https://www.politifact.com/new-york/statements/2018/mar/12/john-faso/do-illegal-gun-owners-commit-most-gun-crime-rep-fa/
@John Flood: that really isn’t the biggest problem. Gun deaths aren’t even really a problem in America particularly mass shootings. Gun death number is so high in America cos they include suicide.
@Barry Somers: I agree somewhat with you but on the other hand I think more people would of being killed if that off duty dude wasn’t carrying his gun ,
We’re not allowed guns here in ireland and yet all the bad guys run around with them , criminals will always get them weather there legal or not,
So I do tend to side with good people having guns to use on bad people it really is 2 sides of the same sword
That’s just my opinion on my own I know others think differently and also some would agree with me
@Karllye kripton: exactly. There’s a big rise of fools robbing old people in rural Ireland would they feel so embolden if they thought the elderly occupant might be armed.
When are we going to start discussing what all these shootings have in common.
So many lives are being lost but it seems people are still fixated on the gun part and not who’s doing the actual shooting.
Sure removing access to guns will help, but that’s clearly not the only issue. Something is going on with the males in America (worldwide really I guess) that is driving so many of them to commit atrocities like these. I don’t know if it’s a narcissism issue or what, but as a whole we should all be asking ourselves.
@Veronica: I’m not sure anythings going on that hasn’t been going on for thousands of years. But the world is changing incredibly fast so if there is an issue it could be linked to any one of the many ways in which our world has changed.
What do you think is going on?
@Veronica: toxic masculinity. Males expected to act a certain way, not being able to express themselves properly and letting their frustrations out on the world. We have the same problem here but we don’t have guns to complicate things even more.
@Veronica: can you throw a figure or two out there as this seems to imply males in general and not just a tiny percent of males which it is. Then maybe throw some racial statistics, maybe a couple of gender related ones, grab a few religious stats, and get the full picture. I like headline too, they point me to which article I want to read but don’t tell the whole story. So could you elaborate and back up your sweeping statement, if you could.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: your right Bruce we don’t have access to guns but we do have access to petroleum..
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: “males expected to act a certain way” the stuff you come out with Bruce.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: toxic masculinity ain’t real there lad. There’s fools out there alright but toxic masculinity is a made up phrase which could apply to any male trait a feminist like yourself dislikes. The real problem is there’s over 300 million people in the US there are going to be psychos out there and they and a lot others are being put on psych meds, the real common denominator in these shootings. Guns are a tool, I could go in to a church and kill a load of people with any tool or make something that would.
@Stephen Coughlan: whether it’s real or not another person has lost their life because another dude decided that he is so Important and Correct that it’s within his remit as a Powerful Man to murder people.
Connect the dots.
@Stephen Coughlan @Seamus Mac: It’s a type of toxic pressure that society says how they should behave. To ‘man up’ and ignore your feelings. Females can gather and support in times of need but men are encouraged to get over it and move on. This leads to young men who suffer deteriorating mental health feeling suicidal. In Ireland, young men commit suicide in horrific numbers compared to their female counterparts. Suicidal ideation can lead to homicidal ideation when you hear of tragic stories of fathers killing family members and themselves like that Monaghan teacher and the many cases before that. In America, you can commit homicide on a much grander scale.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: maybe being told its bad to be a man but also taking the burden of having to do all the terrible jobs in the world is creating depression in man. I don’t think men have a problem with expressing feelings they may not to groups of people but they do with close friends bar a minority. There’s always been suicide and maybe there is a rise or it’s being reported more but I don’t think it’s down to “toxic masculinity” as I said before anyone can have their own conceptions of toxic but it doesn’t apply to all. I believe men to be able to roll with the punches and keep going, sayin f it is a good trait to have but I guess you think different.
@Veronica: what are you talking about.
@Veronica: it’s not real. I could say women who kill their children is toxic femininity. It has nothing to do with the sexes. Anyone who goes into a church shooting people is not toxic masculine or feminine it’s evil. Women kill people too and I would not blame it on bad traits women may or may not have but that’s what Ye are doing Ye are portraying men as toxic cos some men might do bad things somewhere.
@Stephen Coughlan: No man is an island, Stephen. Everyone has their breaking point.
A terrorist attack
@DJ François: You don’t say!
@Darren: many people won’t say.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Why not?
Making America Gruesome Again.
I have a theory give everyone a gun, gunman won’t enter a place where he knows 50 guns will be on him.
@Jack: Can you imagine the carnage if everybody had guns in a situation like this? You hear shots, draw your gun, I look round see you with a gun, I fire on you, someone sees me fire on you, they fire on me and so forth. The border patrol agent someone trained in the use of firearms, did not return fire he waited till the shooter was fleeing the area exactly to avoid a scenario like the one I described.
@Francis Devenney: but knowing there is 50 guns in there would be the main deterrent.. tongue in cheek Francis lol
@Jack: Fair enough, I may have missed the humor. I spent a lot of my working life around firearms and nothing scares me more than firearms in untrained hands. So I maybe a little sensitive. :(
@Francis Devenney: a lot of the people in America who have guns are trained though. Defensive use of firearms in America save more people than people being killed in America. States with high gun control and no gun zones have a much bigger problem than states with more lax gun laws.
@Francis Devenney: no problem Francis I get where your coming from personally I’ve never ever held a gun but on a serious note are we going the security root stationed outside religious institutions while people worship there God
@Stephen Coughlan: The firearms training courses for civilians is worse than no training at all. I gives people a false sense of confidence. Weapon handling is the smallest part of safe and effective combat shooting, the mental preparation is far more important and can take months to learn. Not just the shooting of another human being but situational awareness and stress inoculation. And while range work is fine it does not prepare you for crowded or confined situations where someone is shooting back. Also as far as I know there have been 11 times a mass shooting have been stopped by a “good guy with a gun” and most of those have been off duty law enforcement. so I would be interested in seeing your sources for your claim that “Defensive use of firearms in America save more people than people being killed in America”
@Jack: I really hope not.
@Francis Devenney: if you were into security consultancy it would be a thought? if it saves life’s why not
@Francis Devenney: and how do you know the civilian training course is so bad and how do you know people don’t go and get more advanced training. The defensive use of firearm stat is easy to find just type it in. And it doesnt mean some good guy with a gun shoots back which happens more than you state it jus isnt publicised like bad guy with a gun, its anything from someone brandishing a gun to a would be attacker or warning shot fired at someone coming into your house.
@Francis Devenney: and we ain’t talking combat efficient who need mental preparation. Survival instinct will kick in if someone comes to your house and you will shoot if given the chance.
@Stephen Coughlan: ” how do you know the civilian training course is so bad ” I’ve been an instructor on several. I didn’t design them just delivered the training. “its anything from someone brandishing a gun to a would be attacker or warning shot fired at someone coming into your house.” that is the very attitude that gets people killed, Check out the amount of people shoot with their own gun
@Francis Devenney: you are an instructor so you should understand there is levels to training with firearms which you should understand cos you trained basic level. Did you teach advance levels too which are also available, is that training terrible cos you say so.
@Francis Devenney: people defending their home and shooting warning shots or brandishing their weapon is part of the problem. I don’t think you’re a firearm instructor at all. What would you rather. People barricade themselves into a room and hope no one breaks through and rob their stuff. What if you don’t get to the barricaded room should should you still not brandish your gun or shoot warning shots. Please tell us firearm instructor.
The common denominator in any of these attacks is religion , no escaping the fact .
Is he a terrorist or does it only apply to muslim folks?
It’s been a while. I’m sure there will be more
@kevinhunt101: it’s the 26th mass shooting in America this MONTH! Let that sink in
@Dave O’Keeffe: evidence for that their lad
@Stephen Coughlan: there are actually quite a few sources if take a quick Google: https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting
@David Morrison: I dunno what definition of mass shooting they are using but no people killed and 3, 4, 5 people getting injured isn’t a mass shooting if that was the case every drive by, gang related shooting would be consider a mass shooting greatly increasing the numbers
@Stephen Coughlan: the definition based on the FBI criteria for mass murder (4 or more killed) is 4 or more killed by gun but that would mean that someone that shoots 50 people and only kills 3 isn’t a mass shooter. Since mass shooting doesn’t mean mass fatalities the 4 or more injured definition is used for archival purposes. Why shouldn’t a gang related shooting that falls into the description provided be counted?
@Stephen Coughlan: “The Mass Shooting Tracker is a crowd-sourced database of U.S. mass shootings. We define a “mass shooting” as a single outburst of violence in which four or more people are shot. This is not the same as mass murder as defined by the FBI”
@David Morrison: yeah, it’s quite simple really. FBI definition of mass is 4 or more victims. Shooting is self explanatory.
@Dave O’Keeffe: okay so Ye have established that it’s injuries not deaths so why aren’t gang related shootings counted. If you actually follow what’s going on multiple people are killed or injured in gang related chaos in Chicago every weekend. Are those not mass shootings or do you have to be a white guy to be considered a mass shooter. It happens all the time every weekend, these spree shooters are not the biggest contributor to gun deaths they are actually a small percentage but get the most press.
@Stephen Coughlan: so you’re saying there have been far more than 26 mass shootings this month. Thanks for validating my point. The reason gang related shootings are t counted in some archives is because they are linked to other criminal activities and victims are targeted. Some archives just count the indiscriminate attacks.
Thank God for jammie triggers….
Hail victory …. Hail president Cheeto ….
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