NEVER GETTING OUT

22-Year-Old Gets Life for SoCal Synagogue Shooting on Passover

A San Diego judge denied the shooter’s request to make a statement: “I’m not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity.”

A 22-year-old was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for carrying out a shooting in a Southern California synagogue on Passover in 2019 that left one dead and three wounded. Among the victims were an 8-year-old girl and the synagogue’s rabbi. Victims and their families will have the opportunity to make victim impact statements to John Earnest at a separate hearing. The San Diego Superior Court judge afforded Earnest no similar privilege, denying the killer’s request to make a statement: “I’m not going to let him use this as a platform to add to his celebrity.” Earnest had told a 911 dispatcher just after the shooting, “I’m defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all white people.” He faces another potential life sentence in a federal trial in December.