SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police have arrested a man suspected of firing a gun loaded with blanks inside a San Francisco synagogue.
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The man was arrested Friday evening in the Richmond District on suspicion of disturbing a religious assembly, brandishing an imitation firearm and causing another to refrain from engaging in a religious service, police said in a statement.
Dmitri Mishin, 51, of San Francisco was booked into jail shortly before 12:30 a.m. Saturday and was being held without bail, according to a San Francisco Sheriff’s Office website.
It wasn’t immediately know whether he had an attorney to speak on his behalf.
Shortly before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Mishin is suspected of walking into the Schneerson Center on Balboa Street, which holds religious services and classes along with social activities for the local Russian Jewish community,
Surveillance video posted without sound by KTVU-TV showed a man wearing a baseball cap, jacket and sneakers entering a room with more than a dozen people at a table. The man made hand gestures before taking out a gun and firing. As an elderly man approached him, he headed to the door, saluted and left.
Mattie Pil, the president of synagogue, told the San Francisco Chronicle that her husband, Rabbi Bentzion Pil, was sitting at a table with about 25 senior citizens who were at a study session when a man entered.
Asked where he was from, the man said he was from Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. He then pulled out the gun, Mattie Pil said.
The people at the table seemed to remain calm but the rabbi said they were stunned.
“We were shocked,” he said. “No one was expecting it. I was about to go to the kitchen to get a knife… but the whole thing took like 20 seconds.”
No injuries or damage were reported and investigators believe the man used blanks.
A day before that shooting, Mishin is believed to have entered a theater several blocks away on Balboa Street, brandished a gun and fled, police said.
No shots were fired.
It took until the next day to report this to Police! # 1 Try to Run, Hide or Defend Yourselves! #2 Call 911. #3 File Police Report. #4 Press Charges! DON’T WAIT
attempted suicide by cop? clearly he needs professional help, which he isn’t likely to get in jail.
it also begs the question of whether publicizing an incident like this might put ideas in the heads of other unstable individuals, and produce a wave of copycats?
Seems like the guy is an unfortunately somewhat disturbed Jewish fellow from a Soviet background, similar to the congregants. Maybe some of them recognized him from the area. Maybe he had visited previously. That would explain the relatively restrained reaction from the congregants in the video.
When outsiders who don’t know of or pick up that context see the report and video they may jump to extreme conclusions, but hopefully cooler heads will prevail, and the guy will get appropriate treatment rather than overly harsh summary judgement.
Said he was from mossad,… “headed to the door, saluted and left”. San Fran-sicko is even worse than NYC. Make ASYLUMS Great Again!!
Rav Moshe also respected Chabad.
To the oldies, Refuah Shelaimah.
To the young ones, don’t do drugs.
Not sure how they have a female president. Reb Moshe Feinstein ruled that women may not hold the position of president in a Shul. I would think they would abide by his ruling; especially considering he was usually as lenient as possible when addressing such questions, lending to the conclusion that there is no basis to allow it..