Synagogue Shooting Victim Lori Gilbert-Kaye Mourned at Public Funeral
Lori Gilbert-Kaye was remembered as a woman who brought light and goodness to everyone
By R. Stickney ••
NBC 7 Audra Stafford reports on the preparations for a funeral service to honor the victim of the Chabad of Poway shooting.
Lori Gilbert-Kaye, the worshiper shot and killed while attending Passover service at Chabad of Poway, was remembered Monday as a loving, giving woman by her husband, her daughter, friends and members of her congregation.
Kaye was described by one friend as a pillar of San Diego's Jewish community. The 60-year-old was attending Saturday's service to pay tribute to her late mother with a traditional prayer for the dead when she was confronted by a gunman.
Kaye was standing in the lobby of the temple just before 11:30 a.m. when she stepped between Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and a man who fired several shots from what police described as a rifle.
Her husband, Howard Kaye, M.D., a doctor with Scripps Coastal Medical Center Cedar-Vista told the congregation that he performed CPR on his wife and that she died quickly.
He spoke of Saturday's attack and described the gunman as "lower than an animal" who was likely raised on a diet of blood and gore.
The accused 19-year-old gunman's family hours earlier on Monday condemned the shooting in a statement, saying their son was raised in "a family, a faith, and a community that all rejected hate," and that he is now part of a "history of evil."
At one point, Kaye admitted that his thoughts were coming to him so quickly he was having trouble organizing them but he wanted to share the story of a peace pole his wife had erected at their home. The pole had the message "Peace prevail on Earth" written in five different languages.
“My wife was a person. Is a person who did so much good in her life,” he told the congregation. “Whatever good she did always turned out. And whatever I did that might not have been good, she repaired and made me look good.”
Hannah Kaye said she chose to wear a pink dress because she said her mother was a rainbow, her greatest advocate and her dancing partner.
“Our story was, is and will forever continue to be nothing short of extraordinary and remarkable,” she said.
"My mother gave me every opportunity I could have dreamed of. All of who I am today is a result from the experiences we had together."
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Images taken outside Chabad of Poway on Monday, April 29, the afternoon of the funeral service for shooting victim Lori Gilbert-Kaye.
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Hannah Kaye (L) and her father Howard Kaye, M.D. talk about their mother/wife Lori Gilbert-Kaye at her funeral service on Monday, April, 29, 2019.
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Images taken outside Chabad of Poway on Monday, April 29, the afternoon of the funeral service for shooting victim Lori Gilbert-Kaye.
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Images taken outside Chabad of Poway on Monday, April 29, the afternoon of the funeral service for shooting victim Lori Gilbert-Kaye.
Crystal Whitman
Images taken outside Chabad of Poway on Monday, April 29, the afternoon of the funeral service for shooting victim Lori Gilbert-Kaye.
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People attend a prayer and candlelight vigil at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church on April 27, 2019, in Poway, California.
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People attend a prayer and candlelight vigil at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church on April 27, 2019, in Poway, California.
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A couple holds candles during a vigil held for victims of the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Poway, California.
David McNew/Getty Images
People attend a prayer and candlelight vigil at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church on April 27, 2019, in Poway, California. A gunman opened fire at the Chabad of Poway synagogue on the last day of Passover, leaving one person dead and three others injured. The suspect is in custody.
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Noya Dahan, 8, rides on the shoulders of her father, Israel Dahan, at a candlelight vigil held for victims of the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Poway, California. Dahan was one of the people injured when a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at the synagogue, killing one person and injuring three others.
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People embrace outside the Chabad of Poway synagogue on April 27, 2019, in Poway, California.
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Leslie Gollub, left, and Gretchen Gordon hug at a vigil held to support the victims of Saturday's shooting at Chabad of Poway synagogue, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Poway, California.
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People gather and react outside of the Chabad of Poway synagogue on April 27, 2019, in Poway, California. A 19-year-old man opened fire inside the synagogue near San Diego as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday, killing a woman and injuring three other people. A rabbi who was injured in the shooting said the gunman's gun jammed, preventing more deaths or injuries.
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A 19-year-old San Diego man with a rifle entered Chabad of Poway on Rancho Bernardo Road, west of Interstate 15 at 11:23 a.m. and opened fire on the people inside, law enforcement officials said.
Richard Wilson
More than half a dozen police cars were seen along Rancho Bernardo Road outside Phil’s BBQ -- roughly two miles away from the temple --- where the suspect was apprehended. The 19-year-old pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was taken into custody, SDPD Chief David Nisleit said. "As the officer was placing this 19-year-old male into custody, he clearly saw a rifle sitting on the front passenger seat of the suspect vehicle," he said.
Richard Wilson
As the suspect fled the scene, an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent who was in the synagogue at the time of the shooting opened fire on the suspect, missing the man but striking his vehicle, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said.
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One woman died from injuries suffered in the shooting. A girl and two adult men were injured and rushed to Palomar Medical Center Poway, officials confirmed at 2:30 p.m.
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A memorial of flowers and signs began growing outside the synagogue. One of the signs said, “Our thoughts & prayers are with you. May the community know no more sorrow.”
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President Donald Trump commented on the shooting, saying, "We're doing some very heavy research we'll see what happens, what comes up, at this moment it looks like a hate crime, but my deepest sympathies to all of those affected and we'll get to the bottom of it."
Crystal Whitman
One of the signs at a memorial in honor of the victims of the synagogue shooting said, “We will build this world from LOVE.”
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This is Lori Kane and Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, two victims of the shooting. 60-year-old Kane died from injuries suffered in the shooting and 57-year-old Rabbi Goldstein suffered injuries to index fingers.
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This is the last picture taken of Lori Kane (Third from left) at her best-friends daughter's graduation taken on Friday, Apr. 26.
A city-wide prayer vigil was held Sunday night at Valle Verde Community Park at 7 p.m. where Rabbi Goldstein and mayor, Steve Vaus from Poway were in attendance
This is eight-year-old Noya Dahan, one of the youngest victims in the shooting, she sustained shrapnel injuries and was released out of the hospital the same day the shooting happened.
This is 34-year-old Almog Peretz, one of the victims, he sustained shrapnel and gunshot wounds in his legs and face. He has been released from the hospital.
Kaye was credited with playing a key role in building the synagogue in the suburban city of Poway, approximately 22 miles north of downtown San Diego.
The president of the synagogue described the temple as "ground zero."
"The very place where an anti-Semitic terrorist came to tear us down," Sam Hoffman said. "We've now come together to build our community back up."
A friend recalled how Kaye always had a gift to give a friend or loved one.
"Lori died on Shabbat. Lori died on Passover. Lori died in a synagogue. And Lori died saving our Rabbi," her friend said.
Rabbi Yonah Fradkin said that Kaye would want to be positive in the face of hate.
“There was one sacrifice chosen and that was the purest and most beautiful person that we had in the congregation. The person that cared for everyone. The person that loved everyone. The person that was the strength and the pillar when anyone had a problem. Lori would be the first one to come forward and say, ‘How can I help you,’” Fradkin said to the congregation.
"May we go out and help and do more and share kindness and not let terror destroy us in any way shape or form," he said.
All of the victims share what happened during the shooting at Poway synagogue. NBC 7's Erika Cervantes has more.
At the end of the service, Rabbi Goldstein said the congregation would continue to work to make the world a better place and will continue to hold services in the face of danger like the one that visited the temple on Saturday.
“We don’t go down for one moment. We don’t allow anyone – no terrorist, no murderer, no evil – to shut us down," Goldstein said.
