A San Francisco synagogue is making changes after a man with a gun walked in earlier this week and fired what turned out to be blanks in the middle of a crowd.
As of Friday, police and the FBI were still searching for the man behind the incident at the Schneerson Center in the city's Richmond District.
A surveillance camera captured the man walk through the synagogue doors, shout something in Russian about Israel's intelligence agency and then fire several blanks.
"No one was hurt physically, but emotionally it's jarring," said Alon Chanukov, vice president of the synagogue's board. "I have family members and friends who are terrified for me to come to the synagogue."
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He said they're not going to be scared or intimidated and are looking ahead.
"One thing we’re doing differently is we're going to have a little security car parked up front for Shabbat," Chanukov said. "That's never been the case. We've never had, wanted necessarily or expected police presence right outside the synagogue. We’re going to have that. We’re going to change what we’re working with the Jewish Federation."
He said they will do an assessment of their current security and look for ways to improve it.
"As much as it’s a traumatic incident, it's also an opportunity for us to ensure everyone's safety by getting more training, being conscious of our surroundings and making sites like this much more secure," said Rafael Brinner with the Jewish Community Federation.
In the meantime, police are increasing patrols.
