(JNS) The man convicted of the deadly 2019 shooting at Chabad of Poway in California was given another life sentence and an additional 30 years in prison this week in a federal court hearing in San Diego.
John Earnest, 22, of Rancho Peñasquitos, previously pleaded guilty to a 113-count federal indictment according to a U.S. Justice Department news release.
“All people deserve to live and worship peacefully,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is Jewish, said in the press release. “This defendant’s conduct was an attempt to damage what makes our nation so great—our diversity. The Department of Justice stands with our Jewish and Muslim community members, we reject hate in all forms, and we are committed to prosecuting bias-motivated violence to the fullest extent.”
Earnest was a nursing student at Cal State San Marcos who had become radicalized with white supremacy, posting a manifesto on the internet expressing his hatred for Jews and Muslims.
“I can only kill so many Jews,” he wrote, “I only wish I killed more.”