The Poway Neo-Nazi Synagogue Shooting Could Have Been Much Worse

"Could have been much worse" is limited consolation. A few hours ago, I was praying in a Los Angeles synagogue in the closing hours of Passover. And as Passover and the Sabbath ended, I learned that near San Diego, congregants at a Chabad had come under fire.

And yet in Judaism, we are taught to find the good even in the bad.

The story is still developing, but the attack appears to have been botched. 

Lori Kaye, the 60-year-old woman who was shot and killed, was the only fatality. And she had apparently jumped between the Rabbi and the gunman. 

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein apparently suffered injuries to his hands.

Noya Dahan, an 8-year-old girl, was wounded by shrapnel. And Almong Peretz was wounded while trying to get children to safety.

A Border Patrol agent working off duty as a security guard attempted to stop the Neo-Nazi shooter as he was fleeing, but didn't hit him. The killer later turned himself in. Early reports are that it may be another 8chan shooting, but the chan sites have also been notorious for planting fake confessions, along with real ones. That said, it's entirely plausible that this is another attack originating from that particular sewer. 

And so it seems likely that this was another Neo-Nazi attack on a Jewish site.

The casualties were apparently so light because the Neo-Nazi killer's weapon malfunctioned. Playing video games is poor training for a real life terrorist attack.