San Diego Mourns Loss of Lori Gilbert-Kaye, Synagogue Victim Who Shielded Rabbi

San Diego Mourns Loss of Lori Gilbert-Kaye, Synagogue Victim Who Shielded Rabbi

San Diego is mourning the loss of Lori Gilbert-Kaye, the woman killed in a shooting at Chabad of Poway near San Diego, as she was laid to rest amid praise for her kindness, faith and sacrifice.

Kaye, 60, died taking bullets for Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, who was evacuating children from the synagogue after gunfire broke out, Goldstein said.

Three people, including Goldstein, were injured when a suspected gunman opened fire during a peaceful Passover service Saturday – exactly six months since the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Authorities say the suspect in Poway, California, had posted an online “manifesto” in which he criticized Jews and celebrated the slayings of Muslims at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month.

Kaye had been longtime friends with Goldstein and a devoted member of his congregation.

“Lori took the bullet for all of us,” Goldstein said a press conference Sunday.

The rabbi called Kaye a pioneer member of the congregation and “a person of unconditional love.” She had come to the temple that morning to honor her mother at a memorial service, he said.

Kaye’s husband, a physician, was also at the synagogue and rushed to aid the victims. He began to do CPR on a critically injured victim, unaware that it was his wife. When he realized her identity, he fainted.

Noya Dahan, the 8-year old victim, indicated that the attacker (John T. Earnest, a 19-year-old student at Cal State University San Marcos) targeted the children during his shooting spree.

“He was aiming right at us. He was aiming at the kids,” she said.

Noya’s uncle Almog Peretz was hit in the leg. Shrapnel from that is believed to have hit Noya, passing through her right leg. Shrapnel also hit her face.

…”He came to kill us. He came to grind us. The amount of bullets he had on him. He came to destroy this place,” Dahan said of the attacker. “He was covered in magazines. They were all over his body.”

Reports are now coming out that the FBI got tips on a threatening social media post just minutes before Saturday’s shooting, but not in time to take any action to prevent the attack.

“Approximately five minutes before the shooting at Chabad Synagogue in Poway, California, the FBI received submissions through its online tip website and tip phone number regarding an anonymous threatening post on a social media site,” an FBI official told BuzzFeed News.

…One tipster told the site he logged on to far-right message board 8Chan around 11:05 a.m. — around 25 minutes before John Earnest allegedly opened fire at the synagogue, killing one congregant and injuring three others.

There he found a post under Earnest’s name, linking to a violently anti-Semitic manifesto and a Facebook page where he said he would livestream a mass shooting.

The man — a 25-year-old from Yucaipa, Calif., named Colin — then phoned the FBI around 11:15 a.m.

Prayers of comfort go out to all the victims and their families.

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