(JTA) — The 19-year-old alleged gunman who attacked a Poway, California, synagogue lives with his parents and is believed to have posted a manifesto that includes the conspiracy theory that Jews are planning to take over the world.
John Earnest also claimed that he set fire to a mosque in Escondido, California, in the weeks after the shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The claim is under investigation.
A nursing student, Earnest is on the dean’s list at California State University, San Marcos.
Earnest was yelling anti-Semitic slurs when he entered the synagogue, according to The New York Times, reportedly including that Jews were “ruining the world.”
A manifesto posted on 8Chan, a conspiracy theory message board has been attributed to Earnest, although authorities have yet to verify the posting’s authenticity. In it, the writer says that he was inspired by the Tree of Life synagogue gunman in Pittsburgh along with the New Zealand mosque shooter.
The manifesto states,, according to Heavy.com: “I do not care about the debt-based currency that Jews like to pretend is money. I do not care for the bread and circus that Jewry has used to attempt to pacify my people. I willingly sacrifice my future — the future of having a fulfilling job, a loving wife, and amazing kids. I sacrifice this for the sake of my people. OUR people. I would die a thousand times over to prevent the doomed fate that the Jews have planned for my race.”
The manifesto also uses several anti-Semitic tropes and themes, including that Jews control the media and financial institutions.
“Every Jew is responsible for the meticulously planned genocide of the European race. They act as a unit, and every Jew plays his part to enslave the other races around him — whether consciously or subconsciously. Their crimes are endless,” it says.
In a Q and A format similar to the manifesto posted by the perpetrator of a massacre at two New Zealand mosques, the writer “asks” himself whether he is a supporter of President Donald Trump. “You mean that Zionist, Jew-loving, anti-White, traitorous c********? Don’t make me laugh.”
The writer of the manifesto refers to himself as a Christian and blames all Jews for the murder of Jesus. He called on others to “take a stand” and follow in his footsteps.
Earnest’s father is a high school science teacher, and Earnest has two sisters and a brother. Police raided his parents’ home shortly after the shooting.
Earnest called in the shooting to police after fleeing the scene, as an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol guard who had arrived to say the Yizkor memorial prayer shot at him. He was taken into police custody several blocks from the synagogue, reportedly emerging from his car with his hands in the air. An assault rifle was found in the front seat of the vehicle, as was an action camera, indicating that he had planned to film the synagogue shooting.
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