San Diego synagogue received federal security grant before attack: report

The San Diego synagogue that was the site of a recent deadly shooting had applied last year for a federal grant to improve security, but was awarded the $150,000 grant in late March, just weeks before the shooting, according to a new report.

Rabbi Simcha Backman, who oversees grants for more than 200 Californian Chabad institutions, including Chabad of Poway where the shooting took place, told The Associated Press that the synagogue had applied for the grant to improve its gates and doors, receiving approval in September and receiving the funds in late March.

{mosads}“Obviously we did not have a chance to start using the funds yet,” Backman told the AP.

The synagogue is also considering using some of the grant to hire security personnel. Several California Chabad rabbis began asking members with law enforcement experience to attend services armed after the October mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, in which a gunman killed 11 worshipers, the deadliest anti-Semitic shooting in U.S. history.

The Poway synagogue has been working to improve security for about a decade, receiving a $75,000 grant in 2010 that was earmarked for security assessments, surveillance cameras, lighting and fencing, according to the AP. In May 2018, it applied for the more recent grant to upgrade its cameras.

“It seems like a long time from the time they granted to the authorization,” state Sen. Brian Jones (R), whose district includes the synagogue, told the AP. “I would like to find out if there’s a way we can speed this up, can we remove some bureaucratic steps here to help these organizations get these improvements done quicker?”

The suspect in last Saturday’s shooting, which killed one woman and injured several others, has also been identified as a suspect in a March 24 fire that damaged a nearby mosque.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in the House on Thursday to improve security measures for synagogues, mosques and other nonprofit organizations and houses of worship.

California lawmakers are also backing legislation that would allow a state grant program to budget money for guards, according to the AP. One of the goals of the measure is “to make sure that vulnerable communities that need additional security are getting this financial help as quickly as possible,” Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D), the legislation’s sponsor, told the AP.