Poway Synagogue Shooter Slated To Receive Life Sentence

POWAY, CA — A young man who carried out a hate-motivated shooting at the Chabad of Poway that killed one woman and injured three other people is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

John Timothy Earnest, 22, pleaded guilty July 20 in San Diego Superior Court to murder and attempted murder charges 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.

In an online open letter discovered shortly before the shooting, Earnest espoused flagrant anti-Semitic sentiments, a need to protect the "European race," and wrote, "I can only kill so many Jews" and "I only wish I killed more."

Under the terms of his plea deal, he is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 137 years to life.

State prosecutors announced last year that they would seek the death penalty against Earnest, but that effort was dropped in light of the plea deal, in which Earnest also admitted hate crime allegations specifying that the crimes were carried out because of the victims' race.

On Sept. 17, Earnest pleaded guilty to 113 federal charges stemming from the shooting. He will be sentenced in that case Dec. 28, in which federal prosecutors and Earnest are jointly seeking a prison term of life in prison, plus 30 years.

The former Rancho Penasquitos resident and Cal State San Marcos nursing student carried out the shooting on the last day of Passover, fatally wounding 60-year-old Lori Gilbert Kaye, who was shot twice in the synagogue's foyer. Kaye, a longtime member of Chabad of Poway, was at the temple with her husband and daughter to honor her mother, who had recently died.

The congregation's rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, lost a finger in the shooting. Two other people -- Almog Peretz and his then-8-year-old niece, Noya Dahan -- were also injured.

Prosecutors said 54 people were inside the synagogue when Earnest opened fire.

Surveillance footage from the date of the crime appears to show the shooter's rifle jam or malfunction after he entered the synagogue and began firing. He was then chased out by congregants, drove a short distance away, called police and directed them to his location, where he was arrested.

Earnest pleaded guilty in both the state and federal cases to setting fire to the Dar-ul-Arqam Mosque. According to the federal plea agreement, seven missionaries were asleep inside the mosque at the time, but were able to extinguish the flames and escape injury.

In addition to state and federal prosecutions, the shooting triggered a series of lawsuits from the victims of the shooting against Earnest, the Chabad itself, the gun store that sold Earnest the weapon and gun manufacturers.

By JASON KUROSU / City News Service