Gunman told 911 'I just shot up a synagogue' after attack
By JULIE WATSON and ELLIOT SPAGAT - May. 10, 2019 01:24 AM EDT
FILE - In this April 30, 2019 file photo John T. Earnest appears for his arraignment hearing in San Diego. Federal officials announced Thursday, May 9, 2019, that they have filed 109 hate crime charges against Earnest accused of opening fire in a Southern California synagogue on April 27, the last day of Passover, a major Jewish holiday. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - In this April 30, 2019 file photo John T. Earnest appears for his arraignment hearing in San Diego. Federal officials announced Thursday, May 9, 2019, that they have filed 109 hate crime charges against Earnest accused of opening fire in a Southern California synagogue on April 27, the last day of Passover, a major Jewish holiday. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - In this April 28, 2019 file photo, a San Diego county sheriff's deputy stands in front of the Poway Chabad Synagogue in Poway, Calif. Federal officials announced Thursday, May 9, 2019, that they have filed 109 hate crime charges against John T. Earnest, accused of opening fire in the Southern California synagogue on April 27, the last day of Passover, a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)
United States attorney Robert S. Brewer speaks during a news conference Thursday, May 9, 2019, in San Diego. Federal officials announced that they have filed 109 hate crime charges against the man suspected of opening fire in a Southern California synagogue and said he called a 911 dispatcher afterward to report that he had done it to "defend my nation" against the Jewish people. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
FILE - In this April 30, 2019 file photo John T. Earnest appears for his arraignment hearing in San Diego. Federal officials announced Thursday, May 9, 2019, that they have filed 109 hate crime charges against Earnest, accused of opening fire in a Southern California synagogue on April 27, the last day of Passover, a major Jewish holiday. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP, Pool,File)
United States attorney Robert S. Brewer, right, speaks during a news conference Thursday, May 9, 2019, in San Diego. Federal officials announced Thursday that they have filed 109 hate crime charges against the man suspected of opening fire in a Southern California synagogue and said he called a 911 dispatcher afterward to report that he had done it to "defend my nation" against the Jewish people. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
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SAN DIEGO (AP) — Prosecutors say a gunman who killed a woman and wounded three at a Southern California synagogue called 911 as he sped away in his car and said "I just shot up a synagogue" because "the Jewish people are destroying the white race."

The chilling revelations were detailed in a federal affidavit as federal officials filed 109 federal hate crime and other charges against 19-year-old John T. Earnest on Thursday in the attack at the Chabat of Poway synagogue last month in a San Diego suburb.

Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty.

Earnest already pleaded not guilty to state murder and attempted murder charges. In a separate case, he also pleaded not guilty to a charge tied to starting a fire at a nearby mosque.