John Earnest, 19, has been accused of killing one person and injuring three others at a San Diego, California synagogue
The 19-year-old accused of killing one person and injuring three others at a California synagogue allegedly tried to burn down a mosque last month.
John Earnest was taken into custody following the shooting at the Chabad of Poway Jewish congregation in San Diego on Saturday.
Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was killed in the attack. The three injured victims were identified as Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, an eight-year-old girl visiting from Israel, and the girl's 34-year-old uncle Almog Peretz, who was also visiting from Israel.
A manifesto posted online shortly before the attack and purporting to be by Earnest cites hatred of Jewish people as the motive for the attack, and takes credit for a separate arson attack on an Escondido mosque last month.
The manifesto author claimed he tried to burn down the Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in Escondido on March 24, adding that he spray-painted the message 'For Brenton Tarrant' in the parking lot of the mosque.
Tarrant allegedly killed 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March, a week before the arson attack in Escondido.
Authorities at the time said the suspect had left a message in graffiti in the mosque's parking lot that referenced the New Zealand shooting.
Surveillance video captured a suspect pouring a flammable liquid near a side door of the mosque and then setting it on fire. People who were inside the mosque at the time were able to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.
Authorities are now investigating Ernest's alleged involvement in the arson attack.
A manifesto posted online shortly before the attack and purporting to be by Earnest cites hatred of Jewish people as the motive for the attack, and takes credit for a separate arson attack on an Escondido mosque last month
The manifesto author took credit for an unsolved arson attack against the Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in Escondido on March 24, adding that he spray-painted the message 'For Brenton Tarrant' in the parking lot of the mosque
The manifesto author wrote that he was carrying out the attack on the synagogue because he was a good Christian.
'My god understands why I did what I did,' it read, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The author claims that Jewish people were responsible for the murder of Christ and now control the media and economy.
'Every Jew young and old has contributed to these,' it reads. 'For these crimes they deserve nothing but hell. I will send them there.'
The manifesto author revealed he believed he would be freed from prison and promised to 'continue the fight'.
In the 4,000-word manifesto, which was posted online before the shooting, the author described himself as a 19-year-old nursing student and native of California.
Earnest was a student at California State University, San Marcos, CSUSM President Karen Haynes confirmed in a statement.
The author of the manifesto said that he had been playing piano since the age of four. Video from social media shows that Earnest is a talented piano player.
'If you told me even six months ago that I would do this I would have been surprised,' the author wrote. 'I'm just a normal dude who wanted to have a family, help and heal people, and play piano.'
Synagogue members console one another outside of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue Saturday on Saturday in Poway
Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, (pictured) was identified as the woman who was killed during the horrific attack on Saturday
Almog Peretz, 34, was among the injured. He had been visiting family in the area for the Passover holiday from Israel
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was shot in the hand, but witnesses say he continued to deliver a sermon during the shooting
An unconfirmed manifesto purporting to be by Earnest cites hatred of Jewish people as the motive for the attack
Video from social media shows that Earnest is a talented piano player. The author of the manifesto said that he had been playing piano since the age of four
He wrote that he was inspired by the Christchurck attack, revealing that Tarrant was his 'catalyst'.
The author also references the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue exactly six months to the day before the Poway attack, as well as the suspect in that case, Robert Bowers. Both Bowers and Tarrant are in custody.
Like Tarrant in his own writings, the manifesto author states that his end goal is to prompt the US government to begin confiscating guns, predicting that a civil war will ensue. The author said he had been planning the attack for four weeks.
The author of the manifesto also wrote that he does not support President Donald Trump, calling the president 'Jew-loving' and 'anti-White'.
Much of the manifesto consists of a long list of detailed grievances against Jewish people, accusing them of planning a genocide against the 'European race'.
A car, allegedly used by the gunman who killed one at the Congregation Chabad synagogue in Poway, is pictured, few hundred feet from the Interstate 15 off-ramp north of San Diego, California
Heavily armed San Diego police officers approach a house thought to be the home of 19 year-old John T. Earnest, who is a suspect in the shooting of several people in a Poway synagogue, on Saturday
Earnest's father is seen being interviewed by police. Public records show that the father is a high school teacher and the president of an orthodox Presbyterian church in Escondido
There are indications in online postings that the shooter planned to livestream the synagogue attack on Facebook, but did not succeed.
An anonymous post on the imageboard 8chan, posted roughly 30 minutes before the attack, linked to the manifesto and Earnest's Facebook page, promising a livestream, which never occurred.
