One dead, three injured in shooting at US synagogue

A gunman opened fire at a synagogue in California, killing one woman and injuring three other people.

A shooting on Saturday at a synagogue outside San Diego where worshippers were celebrating the last day of Passover has left one woman dead, authorities said. A girl and two men, including the rabbi of the synagogue, were injured.

San Diego County deputies were called to the scene at the Chabad of Poway just before 11:30 a.m. and the four injured were admitted to Palomar Health Medical Center Hospital about 12:30 p.m., hospital spokesman Derryl Acosta said.

San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said at a news conference that a white man entered Chabad of Poway on Saturday and opened fire on worshippers with an AR-type assault weapon.

Gore said an off-duty Border Patrol agent believed to be inside the synagogue shot at the suspect as he fled. The agent did not hit him but struck his car.

Authorities said they had detained one man and that there was no known further threat. They said the attack was being investigated as a hate crime.

Gore did not provide a motive for the suspect — a 19-year-old San Diego resident — saying only that authorities were examining his social media activity and establishing the legitimacy of an anti-Semitic open letter published online hours before the attack.

"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 in to the investigation," he said.

President Donald Trump, speaking outside the White House Saturday, told reporters, "At this moment it looks like a hate crime, but my deepest sympathies to all of those affected and we'll get to the bottom of it."

Saturday's shooting came exactly six months after a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in which 11 people were killed.