This is the horrifying moment a shooter started fire inside a San Francisco synagogue while witnesses stand by and seem strangely unfazed.
The incident started on Wednesday evening at the Schneerson Center, a synagogue that is mostly frequented by Jews who speak Russian. Two days later, police located and detained the attacker, 51-year-old Dmitri Mishin.
Mishin is seen waving the pistol in shocking video of the incident, allegedly telling one of the guys inside, “I’m going to show you something.” The assault on the synagogue left no casualties, and it’s thought that Mishin could have been using blanks.
The frightening episode, according to police, happened a day after Mishin pulled a revolver in a movie theater a few streets from the synagogue before fleeing the scene.
Social media postings that some suspect were made by Mishin further raise the possibility that the shooter had ties to the extreme right or the neo-Nazi movement.
Surveillance video of the incident shows the 51-year-old attacker at first entering the synagogue peacefully while worshippers dine together at a table.
He then chats to others there for a little while before displaying and waving the pistol in front of the group, which strangely elicits no response.
After straining to prepare the weapon, Mishin fires multiple bullets around the room as others gathered around the table remain entirely calm, with one of the guys even brushing by Mishin as he makes a phone conversation outside.
The deputy president of the synagogue, Rabbi Alon Chanukov, condemned the assault as a hate crime when it occurred.
He said to ABC7 that terrorism need not include murder. In my opinion, he arrived and carried out a terrorist act. To frighten people, he arrived.
“The action is frightening.” to have a stranger enter your house of worship and begin shooting there, where you ought to feel protected.
According to the San Francisco Standard, disturbing social media posts allegedly made by Mishin indicate that the incident was a targeted attack. The assailant posted several far-right or Nazi images, including ones in which he appeared wearing a German military uniform from World War II, in the days prior to the attack.
A Twitter account using Mishin’s identity published a video of something burning on the pavement in front of the Schneerson Center synagogue on January 29, three days before the massacre.
Additionally, the account published a Nazi propaganda poster from World War II that stated “Achtung-Jude,” which translates to “Attention, Jew,” the day before the assault.
The day after shooting up the synagogue, Mishin uploaded a photo from the same account of an apparent old shot of himself dressed in Nazi garb, replete with a swastika and a hand grenade.
Images of human bones and an earlier Mishin dressed in military garb, though it is unknown which military branch he may have served in, are among the other distressing entries.
A spectator who chose to remain anonymous described the dreadful minutes before Mishin started shooting on Wednesday night.
Here comes a man, I ask him, “Do you speak Russian?” he replied. He said, “Yes.”
I invited him to join us. He allegedly stated, “I’m going to show you something,” but I didn’t hear him.
Matthew Finklestein, another attendee, said that the congregation’s members were still digesting last week’s incident and their peculiar decision not to flee from the shooter.
“People didn’t even get up from their seats.” He was brandishing a gun. Because of their fear-induced paralysis,’ Finkelstein told WGMD.
Mishin reportedly talked to people inside in Russian at first, according to Chanukov, and the shooter allegedly mentioned the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence organization.
Chanukov guessed that he may have said, “Say hi to Mossad for me,” at that time.
So in some way, frightening the Jews in America at this particular synagogue was hurting Mossad. I’m not sure I understand. Naturally, I believe the individual to be insane and mentally ill.
The Rabbi thinks that the fact that Mishin spoke Russian when he entered and made eye contact with the people inside may have contributed to their failure to retaliate when shots were fired.
He continued to tell CBS News that “this guy was perceived as a kind person, as a person who is probably simply a Russian Jew who strolled in off the street.”
“You don’t take a pistol, make sure the ammunition is blank, go to a Russian-speaking synagogue on a Wednesday during the celebratory weekly session, fire it up, and then say something about Mossad simply by accident,” the speaker said.
After detectives investigated Mishin’s residence and discovered information connecting him to the attack on the synagogue, Mishin was hauled into prison on Friday night.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, the 51-year-old was arrested on suspicion of a number of offenses, including interrupting a religious gathering and displaying an imitation handgun.
Rabbi Chanukov has allegedly not been detained on suspicion of a hate crime despite his criticism of the assault.
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