Poway, Calif. — A shooting at a synagogue outside San Diego where worshippers were celebrating the last day of Passover sent four people to the hospital Saturday, but the extent of their injuries was unclear, officials said. There was no known threat after a man was detained in the shooting at the Chabad of Poway, but authorities boosted patrols at places of worship as a precaution, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said.
A source told CBS News that the four victims included a rabbi, a little girl, a man and a woman. The severity of the injuries was not immediately clear.
According to police, a man walked into the Chabad synagogue in Poway and started shooting. Police say there were “a lot of injuries” with varying degrees of severity, CBS affiliate KFMB reports.
The shooter then took off down the street where he was eventually taken into custody, the station reported. Authorities are confident there was only one shooter.
The Poway sheriff’s department sent out a tweet saying the shooting occurred just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday. According to the Chabad of Poway Facebook page, the synagogue was holding a Passover celebration scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
The shooting came exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.
Officials say San Diego County deputies were called just before 11:30 a.m. Four patients were admitted to Palomar Health Medical Center Hospital around 12:30 p.m., spokesman Derryl Acosta said.
A handful of police cars were parked outside the synagogue in the city of Poway, just over 20 miles north of San Diego. Crime tape surrounded the street in front of the building.
Passover began on April 19 and was ending Saturday.
In Pittsburgh, a truck driver who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews has been charged in the Oct. 27 rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue. He’s pleaded not guilty.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
