Mother shields son during Yom Kippur shooting at Belleville synagogue

Sharlene Weitzman shielded her 19-year-old son as gunfire struck the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, Ont. She called it "a premeditated, full-on terrorist attack."

'You're not killing him': Mother recounts protecting son during Belleville synagogue attack

Sharlene Weitzman had not planned to be a human shield on the holiest day of the Jewish year. As gunfire erupted outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, Ont., on Sunday evening — the start of Yom Kippur — the 59-year-old pushed her 19-year-old son, Finn Luke Weitzman, to the concrete floor and wrapped her arms around him.

"I wasn't going to let my child be killed at 19 years of age for being a Jew," Weitzman told National Post Crime in an exclusive interview, three days after the shooting near the modest synagogue in a quiet Belleville neighbourhood. "You can kill me, I'm 59, but you're not killing him."

So determined was she to protect Finn that, had a shooter broken through the nearby doors, she said she was "ready to pounce." Her partner, Jennifer Aronson, moved to assist an elderly woman. Other congregants — roughly two dozen in total — lay flat on the floor or found shelter where they could.

Officer returns fire; suspected shooter dies

Const. Jeff Smith of the Belleville Police Service was already at the scene when the suspected shooter, Sean Ward, 29, of nearby Quinte West, arrived and opened fire with a shotgun, according to the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU). Smith was struck during the exchange but was joined by a second responding officer, and together they stopped the attack. Smith remains in Kingston General Hospital in critical but stable condition.

Ward, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who was released in 2022, died at the same hospital on Tuesday. A source told Global News that Ward's release from the CAF followed his refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The same source said Ward had "spouted" antisemitic conspiracy theories, including one that blamed the Jewish community for the pandemic.

Weitzman described the incident as "a premeditated, full-on terrorist attack."

'We just didn't know'

Inside the sanctuary, uncertainty compounded the terror. Someone placed a 911 call and remained on the line throughout, but those sheltering had no way of knowing whether the shootout outside was being fought toward them or on their behalf.

"I think what was most terrifying for everyone, beyond the fact that the gunfire was hitting the window, was that there was a shootout and we didn't know if it was two or three shooters shooting at us and they were going to come in, or if it was the police defending us," Weitzman said. "We just didn't know."

She believes at least one bullet entered the sanctuary because a candle on the Yahrzeit wall — a memorial installation honouring deceased congregants — was extinguished during the attack. Photos shared by congregants Eva and Doug Lobel show more than a dozen bullet holes along one side of the sanctuary's windows.

Rabbi Oded Peles, who was visiting the congregation for the second consecutive year and hails from Israel, later told The Canadian Jewish News that 50-year-old stained glass behind the pulpit — where he would have been leading prayer — was struck by 23 bullets. He credited a short delay in starting the service with saving lives.

"Thank God we were a few minutes late and we took extra time lighting the Yontif candles," Peles told the outlet. "We got extra candles and maybe by lighting the candles, extra four candles, saved our lives."

Asked whether the attack would stop him from returning to Belleville, Peles declined. "It's like almost asking, 'Are you not going to come to the Holy Land because we have rockets?'"

'A literal war of hatred'

Weitzman said the attack triggered a haunting mental image: what it would have looked like had events mirrored the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, in Israel.

"That 'what if' is the real killer, and that to me is what I need to fight against because there's a literal war of hatred," she said, "and I believe that the people, the institutions, the systems running that war want Jews to live fearfully and I refuse to."

She and Finn had not attended a Sons of Jacob service in roughly ten years, but returned because the congregation appeared to have found renewed energy and the family wanted to show their support. Even so, she said she had sensed danger before they left home that evening.

"Every Jew who went to shul on Yom Kippur around the world, I tell you, was worried that it would be their shul that was shot at," she said.

The family arrived early and greeted fellow congregants as they came in. When the gunfire started — what Weitzman initially described as "three enormous banging noises," which she now believes were the first shotgun blasts — the service had not yet formally begun, the doors still open to late arrivals.

Congregants pray together; police sweep the building

After the gunfire ended, synagogue president Norm Weddum approached a window and confirmed a significant police presence outside. It was another 25 minutes before officers made direct contact with those sheltering inside, during which time the congregants gathered around a table, held hands, and prayed. Police then kept them inside the sanctuary while sweeping the building and surrounding neighbourhood.

Weitzman said she is determined not to let the attack extinguish either her faith or her courage — especially not on Yom Kippur.

"I sensed it before we went. I asked my partner if we should go," she acknowledged, noting the ever-present awareness of risk that she said defines Jewish communal life. Despite that awareness, the family ventured out — and she says she would do it again.

Source: National Post Crime