A California man who opened fire at a synagogue, killing one person and wounding three others in a 2019 hate crime attack was sentenced to an additional term of life in prison.
John Earnest, 22, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison plus 30 years on federal charges for the attack on the Chabad of Poway on the last day of Passover and the attempted arson of a mosque in March 2019, federal prosecutors said.
He had already been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in San Diego County Superior Court in September after pleading guilty to state counts.
The sentences will run consecutively, court records show.
Earnest walked into the synagogue in Poway, north of San Diego, on April 27, 2019, and opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle.
He killed Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, and wounded the rabbi, an 8-year-old girl and her uncle before fleeing.
Earnest then called 911 and said he was the shooter, officials have said. He also wrote a hate-filled manifesto that was posted online before the attack.
No one was injured in the fire at the Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in Escondido, California, which was noticed and put out by those inside, officials have said. But seven missionaries were asleep inside the building when the fire was set, prosecutors said.
He pleaded guilty in September to over 100 federal hate crime charges.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement Tuesday called it a horrific crime that was “an assault on fundamental principles of our nation.”
Shortly after the shooting, Earnest's family said they were deeply saddened and concerned for the victims.
“To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries,” they said in a statement at the time. “Our son’s actions were informed by people we do not know, and ideas we do not hold.”
