Terrifying moment gunman walks into Jewish Center and opens fire

‘Paralyzed with fear’: Terrifying moment gunman opens fire in San Francisco synagogue after posting Nazi imagery in days before – while unharmed victims remain unnervingly calm and one even stands up to take a phone call

• Shocking surveillance footage has revealed the moment a gunman opened fire inside a San Francisco synagogue on Wednesday night
• Police have since arrested Dmitri Mishin, 51, who also allegedly brandished the weapon a day before in a nearby movie theatre
• Social media accounts believed to be linked to Mishin appear to reveal the gunman may have far-right or neo-Nazi affiliations

This is the terrifying moment a gunman opened fire inside a San Francisco synagogue as onlookers watch on while remaining bizarrely calm. 

The attack erupted Wednesday night at the Schneerson Center, a synagogue predominantly attended by Russian-speaking Jews. Police tracked down and arrested the assailant two days later, named as 51-year-old Dmitri Mishin. 

Shocking footage of the shooting shows Mishin brandishing the gun after reportedly telling one of the men inside ‘I’m going to show you something.’ Nobody was harmed in the attack on the synagogue, and it is believed that Mishin may have been using blanks.

Police said the disturbing incident came a day after Mishin wielded the gun in a movie theater several blocks away from the synagogue before he fled the scene. 

Disturbing posts to social media believed to be from Mishin also suggest the gunman may have far-right or neo-Nazi affiliations. 

Shocking footage has revealed the moment a gunman walked into a San Francisco synagogue before firing a gun over their heads 

The assailant, named as Dmitri Mishin, 51, is seen opening fire around the synagogue while the congregants appear oddly calm

Despite the chaos inside, which is believed may have been carried out with blanks, one of those inside is seen brushing past the gunman to take a call outside

Chilling surveillance footage of the attack shows the 51-year-old assailant initially calmly walking into the synagogue as congregants eat together around a table.

He then briefly speaks to those inside, before brandishing the gun and waving it in front of the members, which bizarrely doesn’t spark any form of reaction. 

After struggling to ready the weapon, Mishin fires several shots around the room while those sat around the table remain completely calm, with one of the men even brushing past Mishin as he takes a phone call outside.

Following the attack, Rabbi Alon Chanukov, the vice president of the synagogue, slammed the incident as a hate crime.

He told ABC7: ‘Terrorism doesn’t have to have killings. In my mind, what he did was he came, and he did a terrorist attack. He came to terrorize people.

‘The action is terrifying. To have a stranger come in and start shooting in your place of worship, in you place where you should feel safe.’

Rabbi Alon Chanukov, the vice-president of the Schneerson Center, slammed the incident as a hate-crime as he says Mishin ‘came to terrorize people’

The attack on the synagogue has been linked to an incident the day before, where a gunman believed to be Mishin, pictured, also brandished a firearm in a nearby movie theatre

Disturbing social media posts believed to be from Mishin suggest that the incident was a targeted attack, with the assailant posting several far-right or Nazi images, including appearing in WW2-era German military uniform, in the days before the attack, reports San Francisco Standard.

On January 29, three days before the shooting, a Twitter account bearing Mishin’s name posted a video of something burning on the sidewalk in front of the Schneerson Center synagogue. 

And just a day before the attack, the account posted a WW2-era Nazi propaganda poster reading ‘Achtung-Jude’, translated to ‘Attention, Jew.’ 

Mishin then posted a picture from the same account the day after shooting up the synagogue of an apparently old photo of himself wearing a Nazi uniform, complete with a swastika and a hand grenade.

Other disturbing posts include images of human skeletons and a younger Mishin in military uniform, although it is unclear what military he may have served in. 

Chilling social media posts believed to be from Mishin appear to show the gunman with far-right or neo-Nazi affiliations. One post, pictured, was shared the day after the attack on the synagogue, showing Mishin in WW2-era German military uniform

The assailant also appears to have shared WW2-era Nazi propaganda posters to his social media accounts in the days leading up to the synagogue shooting

A witness to the synagogue shooting, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed the terrifying moments that led up to Mishin opening fire on Wednesday night. 

He said: ‘Here comes a guy, I ask him, “Do you speak Russian?” He said, “Yes.” 

‘I asked him, come join us. I didn’t hear, but some people said, he said, “I’m going to show you something.”‘

Another congregant, Matthew Finklestein, said the members are still processing last week’s attack and their odd reaction to not run from the gunman.  

‘People didn’t even leave their chairs. This guy was wielding a gun. It’s because they were paralyzed with fear,’ Finkelstein told WGMD.

Chanukov explained that Mishin first spoke Russian to those inside, and he claims that the gunman said something about Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency.  

‘I believe that may have been when he said, ‘Say hello to Mossad for me,’ said Chanukov. 

‘And so somehow he was harming Mossad by scaring the Jews in America at this one synagogue. I am not really clear. Obviously, I think the person is deranged, the person is mentally unwell.’

Mishin has posted several pictures of himself wearing a Nazi uniform

The Rabbi believes that because Mishin approached those inside by speaking Russian, it may explain why they didn’t react to the gunfire as they initially saw him as a friendly visitor. 

‘This person was seen as a friendly person, as a person who is probably just a Russian Jew who walked in off the street,’ he added to CBS News. 

‘You don’t take a gun, make sure to have bullets that are blanks, go to a Russian-speaking synagogue during a celebration weekly class on a Wednesday and shoot it up and say something about Mossad just by coincidence.’ 

Mishin was taken into custody on Friday evening after investigators searched his home and found evidence linking him to the attack on the synagogue. 

The 51-year-old was booked into County Jail shortly after midnight Saturday on suspicion of various charges, including disturbing a religious assembly and brandishing an imitation firearm. 

Despite Rabbi Chanukov’s condemnation of the attack, he has reportedly not been booked on suspicion of a hate crime.  

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