DUNWOODY, Ga. — For the second time in six months, members of the metro Atlanta Jewish community were on high alert after a tragedy was reported Saturday at an American synagogue.
On Saturday, one woman was killed and three others were injured after a gunman opened fire at a synagogue just north of San Diego. Worshippers had gathered to celebrate the final day of Passover. Last October, 11 people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
On Sunday, the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (JCC) held a Holocaust remembrance and commemoration and also prayed for the victims of both tragedies.
Channel 2's Rikki Klaus was at the Besser Holocaust Memorial Garden in Dunwoody, where community leaders spoke about anti-Semitism and offered prayers for all Jewish victims of violence.
Rabbi Brian Glusman told the crowd that we are living in a world of hatred and it's our job to illuminate the darkness. Glusman also encouraged the crowd to fight against anti-Semitism.
Though the Jewish community celebrates Holocaust Remembrance Week from April 28 - May 5, for most, the recent synagogue shootings were on everyone's minds. Yesterday's shooting in California came exactly six months after the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
"Innocent lives lost for no reason," Glusman said. "Just hatred. I think it's disgusting. I think it's barbaric."
Israeli Ambassador Judy Shorer said that people are now questioning their own safety.
“If the synagogue where you pray is not a safe place, where are the safe places?”
Klaus talked to Dunwoody Mayor Dennis Shorthal about how he intends to keep the faith-based community safe.
“First of all is the safety of all of our citizens, because I don’t know what church, what synagogue one of these folks might show up at," Shorthal said.
There was heavy security at the event on Sunday afternoon.
"The JCC takes security very, very seriously," Glusman said. "It is always at the top of everything we do."
Glusman said a Muslim woman brought him flowers yesterday in support of his community. He says the California shooting is a reminder everyone needs to be there for each other.
TRENDING STORIES:
- College football player shot hours after being drafted, teammate killed
- Officer says his department 'destroyed him' over interracial relationship
- Gunman opens fire outside metro Atlanta Chevron; 1 person shot
CALIFORNIA SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING:
A Jewish leader in San Diego County identified the woman killed Saturday as Lori Kaye, 60, of Poway, California.
Three others were hurt, including Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 34-year-old Almog Peretz and 8-year-old Noya Dahan, officials said.
Police identified the suspected shooter as John T. Earnest, 19, of Rancho Penasquitos, California. The Union-Tribune reported that he appears to have written an anti-Semitic manifesto and claimed to have tried to burn down an Escondido, California mosque in March. That fire is under investigation, police said.
In metro Atlanta, security has been a priority at area synagogues in recent years and especially in recent months since the October 2018 shooting in Pittsburgh that left 11 dead.
Late Saturday, members of the local Jewish community expressed shock and dismay after news spread about the shooting in Southern California.
A local leader told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the community was anxiously awaiting more details.
The community is “saddened beyond words,” said Dov Wilker, regional director of the American Jewish Committee of Atlanta. “We pray for the recovery of those injured.”
San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said that the the gunman, Earnest, had no prior arrests.
CNN reported that the three victims injured in the shooting have all been released from Palomar Health in San Diego County, according to a hospital spokesperson.
PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING:
In Pittsburgh, a truck driver went on a shooting rampage at Tree of Life Synagogue on Oct. 27 2018. He was charged by federal officials with 29 criminal counts and also faces state charges. He’s pleaded not guilty. Eleven people were killed and several more were injured.
At the time of the Pittsburgh shooting in October 2018, the Anti-Defamation League reported anti-Semitism is growing. The ADL found that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. rose 57% in 2017 — the largest single-year increase on record and the second-highest number reported since ADL started tracking such data in 1979. The sharp rise was in part due to a significant increase in incidents in schools and on college campuses, which nearly doubled for the second year in a row.
The metro Atlanta Jewish community is no stranger to violence and devastation. In 1958, the city's oldest and most prominent synagogue was the target of a bomb attack that left part of the building severely damaged. Nobody was hurt.
Then-Mayor William B. Hartsfield denounced the bombers in a television address filmed amid the wreckage. Authorities suspected five men were responsible for the bombing, but only one stood trial; he was acquitted.