California Synagogue Shooter Who Also Set Fire To Mosque Enters Guilty Plea
John Earnest still faces dozens of federal charges. A 22-year-old former nursing student will spend the rest of his life in prison for a shooting spree at a Southern California synagogue in 2019 as part of a plea agreement announced Tuesday.
John Earnest walked into the Chabad at Poway Synagogue near San Diego in April 2019 on the last day of Passover services. He admitted to using a semi-automatic rifle to kill a 60-year-old woman, Lori Gilbert-Kaye, and wound three others, including an 8-year-old girl, along with the Rabbi, who lost a finger after being shot in both hands.
After consulting with the Kaye family and the many victims impacted by the shooting, the decision to accept a plea of life in prison was made in the interest of justice and with the knowledge that a parallel prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and possible plea in that case would prevent the state’s case from moving forward.
It was not clear why Earnest changed his plea. An attorney for the defendant left without comment.
The former Cal State San Marcos student and Rancho Penasquitos resident carried out the shooting on the last day of Passover. Two bullets struck 60-year-old Lori Gilbert Kaye, who was at the temple with her husband and daughter to honor her mother, who had recently died. Kaye was killed in the shooting.
Man Pleads Guilty to Murder in Deadly Shooting at California Synagogue
In a plea deal that spared him the death penalty, John T. Earnest admitted to killing a woman and injuring three others at a synagogue on the last day of Passover in 2019.
Police outside of Chabad of Poway synagogue, in Poway, Calif., the day after the attack in April 2019.Credit.Denis Poroy/Associated Press
July 20, 2021
A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murder in a deadly attack at a synagogue in Southern California on the last day of Passover two years ago, during which he spewed anti-Semitic remarks, fatally shot a 60-year-old woman and injured three others.
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – A young man who carried out a hate-motivated shooting at the Chabad of Poway that killed one woman and injured three other people pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder and other state charges.
In exchange for his pleas, 22-year-old John Earnest is expected to be sentenced on Sept. 30 to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 137 years to life, for the April 27, 2019, shooting. He also pleaded guilty to an arson charge for setting fire to the Dar-ul-Arqam Mosque in Escondido on March 24, 2019.
He previously admitted to both the shooting and the mosque fire in an online open letter in which he espoused flagrant anti-Semitic sentiments and a need to protect the “European race.”
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