The suspect involved in the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting last month in San Diego was charged with 109 hate crime violations, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
John Earnest, 19, allegedly went to the synagogue on the last day of Passover on April 27 and opened fire with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, killing one person and injuring three others. He was later apprehended after he was chased from the synagogue by several members of the congregation and an off-duty Border Patrol agent.
Prosecutors claim that law enforcement investigators then found a manifesto online attributed to Earnest that included multiple anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim comments. He also confessed he was only remorseful about not killing more people in the manifesto and that he was the arsonist involved in setting the Escondido Mosque on fire in March.
Additionally, he claimed that he drew inspiration from the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh last year and the Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings at two mosques.
[Related: 8 things we now know about suspected California synagogue shooter John Earnest]
“No one in this country should be subjected to violence, injury, or death for who they are or for their religious beliefs,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division said in a statement Thursday. “The department will vigorously prosecute those who commit hate crimes and acts of domestic terrorism.”
Earnest was charged with 54 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs using a dangerous weapon that led to death, bodily injury, and attempts to kill. He also was charged with 54 other counts of hate crimes and one count of damage to religious property.
“We will not allow our community members to be hunted in their houses of worship, where they should feel free and safe to exercise their right to practice their religion,” U.S. Attorney Robert S. Brewer, Jr. said in a statement. “Our actions today are inspired by our desire to achieve justice for all of the victims and their families.”
