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SAN DIEGO — Friends are hailing one of the three surviving synagogue shooting victims, 34-year-old Almog Peretz, as a hero for saving kids from the gunfire that erupted at Congregation Chabad in Poway Saturday.

Witnesses say when a gunman burst into the synagogue on the final day of Passover, spraying the congregation with bullets, Peretz leaped into action, grabbing children by the hands and running with them to the exits.

This man is being called a hero. A friend says 34-year-old Almog Peretz saved children during today's synagogue shooting in Poway. Hear the story tonight on @fox5sandiego pic.twitter.com/FKBIc9tcCL — Kristen Shanahan (@kshanahanWDRB) April 28, 2019

“(The gunman) was just shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting. Like crazy. Just spraying,” Danny Almog said. “All I cared about was finding my kids. I was on the floor crawling to go through the exit” to where the children were staying.

Almog stopped in his tracks when he spotted his father-in-law, using his body to shield one of his children from the bullets. The three family members rushed together toward an exit, but Almog realized his daughter was still missing.

“I couldn’t see her anywhere. I was screaming, ‘Yuli, Yuli, where are you?’ And I was looking for her in the room,” Almog told FOX 5. That’s when he heard his friend, Peretz, calling out that he had Yuli with him.

“He grabbed all the kids in his hands and was just running towards the exit (when) he saw another kid over there,” Almog said. “He grabbed him and started running and (that’s when) the shooter shot him in the leg. He didn’t care. He kept on running with the kids and just ran out.”

Peretz was recovering at the hospital Saturday night, along with a rabbi who was shot in the hand and a young girl who was struck by the gunfire. Medical officials said all three will survive.

Another woman, 60-year-old Lori Kaye, died from her injuries a short time after the shooting, however. Friends and neighbors told FOX 5 that Kaye was a loving mother and wife and an avid gardener.

A vigil at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church brought members of many faiths together in solidarity Saturday night to honor Kaye and the other victims.

Moving words as Members of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic come together to remember victims of Chabad of Poway. “We’ll walk hand in hand someday.” @fox5sandiego pic.twitter.com/UBwLU5D1Vv — Jeff McAdam (@JeffMcAdamTV) April 28, 2019

A San Diego man, 19-year-old John Earnest, was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

The attack came on the last day of Passover, and about six months after a deadly shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. In an emotional address Poway Mayor Steve Vaus called the attack a hate crime. “We will walk through this tragedy with our arms around each other,” he said, adding, “This is not Poway.”

A GoFundMe linked to a verified charitable organization is raising funds for the victims.

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