A rabbi who was injured in the deadly shooting at a synagogue near San Diego on Saturday has described the moment he faced the gunman.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein says he lifted his hands when he saw the “murder terrorist”. The man shot and the rabbi lost his right index finger.
One woman died and two other people were injured in the attack.
A 19-year-old man named as John Earnest was arrested shortly afterwards in Poway, north of the Californian city.
The attack comes exactly six months after a shooting in Pittsburgh in which 11 people were killed, thought to be the worst anti-Semitic attack in recent US history.
Rabbi Goldstein was walking into the banquet hall at the synagogue when he heard a noise – what he thought initially was a table falling over or a congregation member collapsing.
“As soon as he saw me, he started to shoot toward me and that is when I put my hands up,” Rabbi Goldstein said on NBC’s Sunday Today programme. “I cannot erase that face from my mind.”
He held up his hands to shield himself but his fingers “got blown away”.
Rabbi Goldstein hurried through to the banquet hall where a number of children – including his granddaughter – were gathered.
“I just ran, not even knowing that my fingers were blown off and curled all the kids together and got them outside,” he said.
Lori Kaye, who helped found the synagogue with Rabbi Goldstein, was shot dead in the attack.
“Everyone in the community knew her,” he said. “I’m just so heartbroken and saddened by the senseless killing.”
A 34-year-old man and a young girl suffered shrapnel wounds in the attack.
