John Earnest: San Diego synagogue shooting suspect charged with murder as parents speak out about ‘evil and despicable act’

'How our son was attracted to such darkness is a terrifying mystery to us'

A 19-year-old man has been charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder following the weekend attack on a Southern California synagogue.

San Diego County prosecutors also charged John T. Earnest on Monday with a March arson attack on a mosque in the city of Escondido.

The parents of the college student said they were shocked and saddened that “he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries”.

“Our son’s actions were informed by people we do not know, and ideas we do not hold,” the parents said on Monday in a statement, which didn’t include their names.

A gunman on Saturday burst into the Chabad of Poway near San Diego on the last day of Passover, a major Jewish holiday that celebrates freedom, and opened fire with an assault-style rifle, killing a woman and wounding a rabbi and two others.

“How our son was attracted to such darkness is a terrifying mystery to us, though we are confident that law enforcement will uncover many details of the path that he took to this evil and despicable act,” the statement said.

The suspect’s parents, who are cooperating with investigators, said their sadness “pales in comparison to the grief and anguish our son has caused for so many innocent people.”

Earll Pott, a family attorney who issued the statement, said the parents will not provide a legal defence for their son, who will likely be represented by a public defender. They asked for privacy and do not plan to make additional comments until the criminal case is resolved.

The district attorney’s office said Earnest will be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon.

The FBI said Monday that it received tips on a threatening social media post about five minutes before the attack.

The tips to the FBI’s website and phone number included a link to the anonymous post but did not offer specific information about its author or the location of the threat. The FBI said employees immediately tried to determine who wrote the post, but the shooting occurred before they could establish his identity.

The shooting happened around 11.30am, and police arrested Mr Earnest moments afterward. He is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

The online manifesto written by a person identifying himself as John Earnest was an anti-Jewish screed posted about an hour before the attack. The poster described himself as a nursing school student and praised the suspects accused of carrying out attacks on mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people last month and at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue that killed 11 on 27 October.

About 100 congregates were worshipping when the gunman killed Lori Kaye, 60, and wounded the synagogue’s rabbi, Yishoel Goldstein; Noya Dahan, 8; and her uncle Almog Peretz.

The Associated Press contributed to this report