On Apr. 28, Poway, CA was struck with shootings at the Chabad Synagogue. This isn’t the first Jewish synagogue that was attacked on the day of Passover. The shooters name is John T. Earnest, he killed one person and injured three others.

A Jewish freshman, Ethan Soto, was celebrating passover when he heard the news, and he has certain feelings about the events that occurred. After hearing the news, he experienced different emotions.

“I think it is awful what happened at the Synagogue,” Soto said. “It was an unnecessary event that I believe shouldn’t have happened.”

The shooter, 19-year-old John Earnest, believed that his actions would glorify God. One of his Pastor’s said that after these actions, he should do a good amount of soul searching.

“I honestly think that he is crazy and should be arrested for life,” Soto said.

Earnest might be getting sentenced to death because he was accused of killing a woman and injuring others based on their religious beliefs. He also injured three other people.

“I think that it is good the sentence he is being given because no one should kill someone else based on their beliefs,” Soto said.

Another Jewish freshman, Griffin Avilez, shared his thoughts on the event and his answers were a little different than Soto’s. Avilez was not celebrating when his family heard the news, they also heard it a little bit later.

“I feel like Earnest was expressing his beliefs and thought, even though he expressed them in an awful way, when he could’ve done something without killing anybody,” Avilez said.

One of the Pastor’s put his hand in front of Earnest’s gun, Earnest fired, taking off the man’s index finger. This action was selfless because he could not watch a younger child die right in front of his eyes.

“I think the Pastor is a hero even though he was a little unsmart by putting his hand in front of the gun,” Avilez said.

With one person dead and others injured, this caused a lot of controversy about why he did what he did. One side is that he did it to please God. Other people speculate that it was an act of terrorism. Either way, it was a cruel act and his consequence is life in prison, and possibly death. 

“I don’t think that he was trying to please his God,” Avilez said. “I don’t think he would’ve tried to kill a whole Synagogue of adults and children.”