Hate crimes are not an uncommon affair in different countries and it is increasing at an alarming rate. Police in the US said the gunman, named as John T Earnest, opened fire inside the synagogue in Poway, about 30 kilometres north of San Diego killed one woman and at least three people injured on Saturday. Mayor says this shooting was an act of ‘hate crime’. The San Diego County sheriff, William Gore, said Earnest was from the city of San Diego and had no prior arrests. According to police sources, he used an “AR-style” semi-automatic rifle. There were indications that the gun might have malfunctioned after firing numerous rounds inside the synagogue, the sheriff said.
The incident came on the last day of Passover and exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people. No motive for the attack has been confirmed. A person who identified as John Earnest wrote an online post citing deadly attacks on mosques New Zealand and Pittsburgh synagogue last year. Authorities confirmed they were aware of an apparent manifesto written by the attacker, but did not delve into its substance and said they were working to confirm its legitimacy.
Hate crimes are not an uncommon affair in different countries of the world but the United States as to when it comes to hate crimes and gun massacres, the country is tragically exceptional. According to a study published recently, the country has more public mass shooting than in any other country in the world. Adam Lankford, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama analyzed that, the United States has 5% of world’s population with 31% of all public mass shooting that is pretty high. In the time period of 1966 and 2012, there were 90 mass shooting happened that resulted in the death of more than 4 peoples including the shooters family members. The shootings happened in different places but the common spot for the mass shooting includes nightclubs, Schools, Crowded road, Churches etc.
> Alma Siddiqua
San Diego: Synagogue Shooting Killed One and Left Three Injured
